Who is Vadym Stolar? Speculation and truth

Investigation of the details of the Ukrainian politician's personality

Vadym Stolar is a figure about whom there are many different rumours and myths. In the Ukrainian and world mass media, materials of almost the opposite direction appear from time to time. So we decided to study in more detail what is factual and fiction. So we selected several similar allegations and analyzed them based on data from open sources. And we also sent a request to the press service of the Ukrainian politician himself, who answered our questions.

The media report on Vadym Stolar's philanthropic activities and his allegedly dubious business projects, let's figure it out sequentially.

As Vadym Stolar himself mentioned, during the year of the war, his Ukrainian Name Fund spent UAH 271 million (almost EUR 7 million) on aid to Ukrainian citizens, and the total assistance amounted to UAH 350 million (about EUR 9 million).

A full-scale war has been going on in Ukraine for more than a year due to Russia's armed aggression. And from the first days of the war, the Vadym Stolar Charitable Foundation has been helping Ukrainian soldiers as long as providing support for those who were left homeless and who lost one or both parents. He also became one of the philanthropists of the Charity Organization “Future for Ukraine Charity Foundation”, which helps war victims.

Let's have a detailed look.

The facts. Charity. Vadym Stolar is one of the most prominent Ukrainian philanthropists, and the mass media has numerous references to this. In addition to the already mentioned aid figure, you can find specific information about whom and what he supports through charities.

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If we talk about helping the military, it includes ambulances for military hospitals, armoured offroad vehicles to the front line, clothing and ammunition, and high-tech equipment such as thermal imaging, UAVs, and drone detection equipment.

Vadym Stolar and his foundations also help the civilians. Support is aimed primarily at internally displaced persons. In particular, volunteers of the Vadym Stolar Charitable Foundation deliver humanitarian aid to a wide range of settlements in the country, including hot spots. Information about these missions is also publicly available in some independent mass media.

A team of volunteers and Vadym Stolar personally organize humanitarian missions to the regions, where, in addition to transferring large volumes of aid, they communicate with residents and displaced people to directly receive urgent information about people's needs and provide the necessary assistance as quickly as possible.

This spring, at least three such missions were reported: to the southern city of Kherson, liberated from the Russian occupiers; to the Kharkiv, which suffers from constant Russian attacks; to Druzhkivka in the Donbas near the front line, and also to the west of Ukraine, where a large number of internally displaced people live.

There are also mentions of other social projects financed by the Vadym Stolar Charitable Foundation in open sources. They are aimed at the psychological recovery and spiritual revival of Ukrainians.

One of the most significant projects is "Vidnovys'"(Recover), in which families with children who lost their homes or parents due to the war are rehabilitated in the scenic Carpathian Mountains.

In addition, Vadym Stolar's funds contribute to recovering wounded soldiers, including their prosthetics abroad, in Washington and Malta. They work with complex cases and severe amputations of patients, which requires appropriate experience and expertise.

Also, together with Charity Organization “Future for Ukraine Charity Foundation”, Mr. Stolar opened a development hub for children in Warsaw, visited by more than 300 children every month, as well as a centre for providing free social assistance for children with autism spectrum disorders in Lviv which is the first centre of this level in Ukraine.

It should be mentioned that the philanthropy of the Ukrainian deputy did not begin with the war. The Vadym Stolar Charitable Foundation, created in 2020, focused on overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vadym Stolar has implemented some individual projects even earlier.

Patronage. In open sources, you can find the following references and information on this activity: " Museum of the History of Kyiv - a joint project with businessman Vagif Aliyev which was implemented with the efforts and funds of Vadym Stolar. This institution did not have its own premises for eight years, but thanks to patrons, it finally got a new building".

In addition, in 2014, as part of the preparations for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, Vadym Stolar financed the creation of a digital database for the Library of the Shevchenko National Museum and contributed to the connection of the museum to the Internet.

Politics. This area raises questions. The fact is that Vadym Stolar is a member of the political party "Opposition Platform - For Life" and belongs to its parliamentary faction, to which Ukrainians have an ambiguous attitude. In answering our questions, Mr. Stolar explains that his only political goal is restoring Ukraine's peace. However, with the beginning of a full-scale war, it became clear that peace cannot be achieved democratically.

We can see from the publications on Vadym Stolar's official pages that he called it a war from the first days of the war, and Russia - the aggressor country. Therefore, suspecting him of sympathies and cooperation with the Kremlin is extremely difficult. However, for greater certainty, we analyzed the relevant publications of the Ukrainian mass media. As a result, we discovered that Vadym Stolar is called "pro-Russian" in emotional and sharply negative materials with all the signs of ordered publications. Therefore, we have not found confirmed connections with the aggressor country.

So, much of the information about Vadym Stolar that reaches the general public is rumours or gossip with no fundamental basis. And the politician himself gives answers to those facts that raise questions.

Business. Vadym Stolar is often called a businessman but considers himself more of an investor. He owns investment funds that invest in real estate and various startups. According to the politician's press service, Vadym Stolar paid taxes for UAH 24.5 million (more than EUR 600,000) in 2022 from the dividends received. According to this indicator, he ranks second among all People's Deputies of Ukraine in the 9th conference.

At the same time, in recent months, information appeared in the mass media about allegedly joint business with the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, with his deputy Oleg Tatarov, and even with the odious politician Viktor Medvedchuk, accused of treason and exchanged for captive defenders of Azovstal. However, Vadym Stolar rejects such rumours in his response to our inquiry, and we have not been able to find documents that would confirm this.

One more detail: the deputy is periodically called in the media almost the city's most prominent "developer". We also asked about this. However, referring to his income and property declaration, he assures that he never owned any of the development companies attributed to him.

It isn't easy to accurately conclude the figure of Vadym Stolar because although he is a politician, he is not a very public person. As Mr. Stolar says about himself, "he wants to focus on his family and work, not digging in the dirt." Because, as they say, someone definitely needs it if they talk about you. The only question is, who?

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