Artem Koliubaiev, Sargis Sargsyan and Elvira Gavrilova organize a charity evening to collect funds

Artem Koliubaiev, head of the Union of Television and Film Industry Entrepreneurs, and union volunteers Sargis Sargsyan and Elvira Gavrilova organized an evening in support of Ukraine on March 4 in Athens and collected UAH 1,740,000 at a charity auction. The collected funds will go towards the purchase of an ambulance.

The event was supported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Greece in the person of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Hellenic Republic Serhiy Shutenko and by Governor of Khmelnytskyi Oblast Serhiy Hamaliy.

According to Artem Koliubaiev, this event was very significant for the “Union of Television and Film Industry Entrepreneurs”, because it united the peoples of Greece and Ukraine.

Among the lots presented at the auction were boxing gloves signed by Oleksandr Usyk (it should be emphasized that the boxer joined the event via video), which were sold for UAH 240,000; gloves of the Klitschko brothers, which someone bought for UAH 500,000; lots from the Kate Lab brand from Ukraine. The International Parliament of Mothers also provided art objects for sale at the auction, as well as lots from the personal collection of HRH Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia. The national football team of Ukraine donated a ball and a T-shirt with the autographs of legendary football players “Dynamo Kyiv” — Oleg Protasov, Oleksiy Mykhailichenko, Dmytro Demyanenko — to a charity auction. The flag of Ukraine with the autograph of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny was sold for more than half a million. The flag was kindly provided by the Ukrainian military correspondent and public figure Roman Bochkala.

The presenters of the evening, organized by Artem Koliubaiev, Sargis Sargsyan and Elvira Gavrilova, were Honored Artist of Ukraine Yuriy Gorbunov and Ukrainian journalist Kateryna Osadcha. They masterfully conducted the auction and raised the bids for the lot, increasing the amount of fees for the Armed Forces.

At the charity evening, Ukrainian singers Mykhailo Khoma (Dzidzio) and Oleksandr Ponomariov presented their new composition “Hey, Falcons!”. After their performance, they gave a hat to the hall, which collected UAH 200,000.

According to the volunteers of the union, Sargis Sargsyan and Elvira Gavrylova, the organization of the evening was not easy, there were many difficulties at the stage of preparing the evening, but, thank God, there were caring people. Sargis Sargsyan and Elvira Gavrylova expressed their gratitude to the public organization “Ukrainians in Greece”, the representative of the “Battalion Volunteer” foundation Oleksandr Prykhodchenko, the dentist Khrystyna Medynska, the director of the company “VASH CENTER” Anatoly Kuchirko, the girls from Candy Cat, the deputy head of the United Ukrainian Diaspora in Greece Oksana Koziy and others.

The evening was a huge success. It was visited by more than 1,000 guests who came to support Ukrainians and Ukraine. The embassies of Italy, Poland, Moldova, Austria, Montenegro and Turkey to the Hellenic Republic, as well as top Greek artists Eirini Papadopoulou and Christos Menidiatis also joined the evening.

The tables were decorated with Ukrainian symbols, chernozem and sunflowers could be seen on them. Moreover, in the evening, dishes from the most delicious cuisine – our Ukrainian cuisine – were presented.