An American company that customizes Legos created limited-edition toys that featured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Molotov cocktails in an effort to raise money for citizens in Ukraine affected by the Russian invasion.
Citizen Brick announced that it had raised over $16,000 in just over 24 hours for Direct Relief, a nonprofit organization that helps people in crisis around the world. Direct Relief says it has delivered over $26 million in aid to Ukraine over the past six months. The Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.
Direct Relief was founded after World War II in 1948 by Estonian refugee Willliam Zimdin, who had fled his home country as Hitler's Germany took unprovoked military action against the citizens of Europe.
Lego has strict corporate rules about manufacturing military equipment based on weapons currently in use, but there's a thriving aftermarket in customized Lego sets that the toy manufacturer seems to tolerate.
Citizen Brick is one of the companies that makes those unofficial Lego sets, but the official Ukraine Instagram account gave all the credit to Lego.
The Molotov cocktails cost $10 each, and the Zelenskyy figures were $100. If you missed the sale, there's a chance that more will be made available by Citizen Brick. Owner Joe Trupia told the Motherboard website: "We're scrambling to make another batch since this got picked up on the Ukrainian Instagram page."
If you're looking to get in on the next round of Zelenskyy figures and Molotov cocktails, your best bet would be to follow Citizen Brick on Instagram or Facebook so that you'll get the announcement when and if they're available again.
In a Facebook post, Citizen Brick said before the first sale that "100% of the sale of these items will go to @directrelief to assist with their efforts to bring medical supplies to the people of Ukraine." Now that there's more attention on their campaign, it's likely that future rounds will result in similar donations.
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