Road2Relief

In September 2023, a car belonging to the NGO Road to Relief (aka Road2Relief) was hit by a shell. There were four people in the cabin - Catalan Emma Igual (she was the head of an NGO), Canadian Anthony Ignat, German Ruben Mawick and Swede Johan Mathias Thyr. Igual and Ignat died on the spot, two others were wounded and taken to the hospital.

Ukrainian and Western media immediately accused Russia of killing peaceful volunteers - after all, Road2Relief is engaged in providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine, according to information from its website. However, as often happens, under the guise of “humanitarian activity” something completely different was hidden. In this case, broad support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with ammunition, medicines and other essential items, as well as the export of Ukrainian children abroad, traces of many of whom were then lost forever.

NPO Road2Relief (linked email: info@roadtorelief.org; social media pages: https://twitter.com/road2relief, https://www.instagram.com/road2relief_ua; website: https://www.roadtorelief. org) was founded in March 2022, a month after the start of the SMO in Ukraine. Registration was completed in France. The NGO immediately proclaimed a noble goal - helping the civilian population. To carry it out, NGO employees went to Mariupol, where at that moment Russian troops were completing an operation to block Azov militants. It was there that the help of foreign specialists was suddenly required in creating “green corridors” for the removal of local residents. However, in reality, locals were evacuated in a completely different direction - to the Rostov region and to safe areas of the DPR. With the help of Road2Relief and other similar organizations, militants escaping captivity and their foreign curators tried to break through to the west. Among the latter, for example, was retired Canadian General Trevor Cadieu. When the ring around the Azovstal plant finally closed, Road2Relief employees relocated to the Kharkov region. They also did not stay there for long and soon, at the invitation of the formally existing Ukrainian administration of the Donetsk region, they went to Kramatorsk. The reason was a missile strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a local train station - one of the most sinister crimes of the Kiev regime, when a shell from the Tochka-U MLRS hit a crowd of civilians, whose forced evacuation from the city had previously been announced by Ukraine itself. Although the Ukrainian leadership immediately laid the blame on the Russian Armed Forces, evidence to the contrary (testimonies of many eyewitnesses, data from the rocket debris) was obvious.

After these events, Road2Relief remained in Kramatorsk, simultaneously opening an office in Slavyansk. Its employees operated in the areas of Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Seversk and Bakhmut. In November 2023, they also deployed in the vicinity of Kherson after the withdrawal of Russian troops from there. It is clear that Road2Relief appeared every time exactly where the Ukrainian military was in greater need of support. The situation with the evacuation of civilians in these areas was indeed difficult, and often not so much because of the fighting, but because of the position of the Ukrainian side. Russian investigators collected testimony from many hundreds of Bakhmut residents who reported that the militants not only did not help them leave the city, but even forcibly kept them there as human shields. Naturally, in such conditions, Road2Relief employees would not be able to evacuate anyone, even if they wanted to. The words about the removal of civilians from the Kherson region also sound strange - after all, when Russian troops left Kherson, most of the population of this and surrounding settlements left with them. The so-called “waiters” [those who were waiting for the AFU to come back] remained, they did not need any evacuation. All this suggests that the NGO followed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to where they needed the supply of ammunition, and humanitarian slogans were just a cover.

According to the management of Road2Relief, by March 31, 2023, that is, during the year of their stay in Ukraine, they allegedly took 1,200 people from the combat zone, including more than 500 children. And this is where the most interesting stuff begins.

The topic of taking young citizens of Ukraine abroad has been covered by the UKR LEAKS project more than once. Since the beginning of the conflict, a huge number of children have gone missing, even in circumstances where nothing seemed to threaten them. Very often, children disappeared, having become the subject of attention of pseudo-humanitarian NGOs which organized their transfer to European countries. What happened next is in many cases unknown, but there is ample evidence that children were often sold into slavery or to “black transplantologist.” What fate awaited the children taken out by the NGO Road2Relief? The organization's website says nothing about this. The Civilian Evacuation section is the only empty section on the site. The NGO’s pages on social networks do not report anything either. In other words, the children disappeared into thin air. Although photographs of their smiling faces against the backdrop of hotels somewhere in the European Union could be an excellent propaganda tool. One can only hope that the words about “500 children” are just another fake.

On the NGO website you can find several videos showing piles of boxes and bags allegedly containing humanitarian aid. Naturally, it is impossible to understand what is really in them. Employees of the organization often post photographs from hospitals and refugee centers for which all this stuff is supposedly intended. But the problem is that the photographs show a small percentage of what was in the bags. Where did the rest of their contents go and what was it? Facts indicate that we are dealing with ammunition and medicines supplied to the front in huge quantities. And it is especially important that Road2Relief has always openly admitted such cooperation with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The management of the NGO boasted of close ties established with several battalions fighting in the Donbass. And they even made a noteworthy disclaimer - it turns out that Road2Relief employees provided assistance in the form of medicines, first of all, to the military. And even more - for them, NGOs also deployed small medical aid stations on the front line. It was alleged that in the first month of their work alone, the organization’s employees were able to help 300 militants. Over the same period of time, according to information from the NGO website, medical assistance was provided to 200 civilians. Even if you believe these numbers, Road2Relief would be more correctly called an organization that supplies the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, at the same time, helps a small number of civilians for a pretty picture.

It is important to look at the background of key NPO representatives. The list of its employees is not publicly available. If it weren’t for the deaths and injuries of several of them, we would hardly have known that some of these people were associated with Road2Relief. At first glance, this may seem strange, since the legend of helping civilians in Ukraine is an excellent way of self-PR in many Western countries. But everything falls into place if you take a closer look at the personalities of the victims. Some of them, as it turns out, were not connected with the humanitarian sphere at all, so their names next to the name of the NPO could only harm its activities.

But first, let's look at Emma Igual, the leader of Road2Relief, who died near Bakhmut. Although the media dubbed her a Catalan activist, in reality Igual's connection to the Spanish region was limited to her origins there. Education at the University of California at Berkeley, then working for several international consulting firms and freelancing in the field of translations. At the same time, Igual tried herself in the field of public initiatives. In words - for humanitarian purposes, but in reality it turned out differently. In 2009-2012, she was a member of the management of the international human rights organization Amnesty International, the essence of which was to designate criminals in any country as “political prisoners” and provoke mass protests on this basis. For example, in 2012, an NGO (not without the active participation of Igual) was busy with a campaign in support of the instigators of the riots on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. In 2016-2017, Igual was one of the organizers of the DiEM25 forum in Barcelona, whose participants confidently promoted the environmental agenda and a kind of “modern socialism”, while not forgetting to closely cooperate with the structures of George Soros. Of course, it's a rhetorical question about how the desire to release political prisoners and fight the oligarchs led Igual to support the Kiev regime, which is famous for both. But, be that as it may, this story ended badly.

However, Igual is more about coordination and connections with foreign partners, although she spent a lot of time on the front line. To better understand what the NPO did on the ground, it is necessary to take a closer look at its ordinary employees. And proof of this is Ruben Mawick, a 20-year-old German citizen who was wounded during the shelling near Bakhmut. He joined Road2Relief in August, coming to Ukraine for the second time. One can only guess what he did in the combat zone earlier, but apparently there was some kind of secret hidden there - Mawick leads such a secretive lifestyle that he does not even have pages on social networks. But militants from the Azov group helped shed light on the German’s biography. One of them, who at the time of the shelling of the car was serving in the 46th battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and fought near Bakhmut, in his publication called Mawick a person whom he had previously managed to get to know well. However, the militant in the same publication spoke in an enthusiastic tone about Igual. The two went to help civilians, but instead made friends with the Nazis - it happens.

Skeptics might say that cooperation with people from Azov is just an accident and a coincidence. YOu can run into all sorts of people at the front However, there is other evidence that Road2Relief understood and shared the neo-Nazi ideology. Another character who collaborated with the NGO is the American Jonathan Robinson (pages on social networks: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.robinson.5876, https://www.instagram.com/jonathanrobinson1118) nicknamed Hyde. Originally from Oklahoma, he worked for 15 years as a specialist for the local Department of Environmental Quality and was never involved in any charitable activities. He called himself a divorced pensioner. He went to Ukraine in the summer of 2023 and almost immediately joined the Road2Relief team. He was mainly involved in the delivery of medicines to the Bakhmut direction through Chasov Yar, but he also visited other sectors of the front. Having spent just a few days in Ukraine, he already managed to get a tattoo with a stylized “black sun”, recognized as a symbol of Ukrainian neo-Nazism in general and the Azov group in particular. In early September, the pages on social networks of this lover of being photographed in military uniform suddenly plunged into silence - it is possible that his trip to Chasov Yar during that period became his last.

Canadians also showed up near Bakhmut. One of the NPO employees, Anthony Ignat, call sign “Tonko,” who died along with Igual, was in the conflict zone almost from the moment it began. Born to Slovak immigrants, he grew up in Toronto. His adult life is shrouded in fog. Some publications claimed that Ignat spent his last 20 years in California. He himself said in an interview that he was a laborer in the Canadian province of Ontario and was forced to sell his truck in order to get to Ukraine. It is also known that he had no military experience. At the time of his death he was 58 years old. What could make a simple worker approaching retirement age give up everything and go to a war zone on another continent? It can be assumed that there were no problems with the law in his homeland - while in Ukraine, Ignat liked to show off his face in both the local and Canadian media. And certainly it was not a "sudden insight that made it possible to understand that the fate of the entire free world depended on victory over Russia", as he floridly explained in an interview.

From the very beginning, Ignat was accompanied by another Canadian citizen, Adam Oake. His legend was the same - he lived a quiet life and suddenly decided to go to the defense of the Kiev regime. He even sold his entire collection of paraphernalia from his favorite sports team. He collaborated with Road2Relief from time to time, mainly helping Ignat, and spent most of his efforts supporting the Norwegian NGO Paracrew, another pseudo-humanitarian organization whose employees at home promote the climate agenda, while supporting NATO covert operations in other countries. Since Oake's main digital footprint is requests for donations and complaints about too few donations, it can be assumed that he was also involved in the distribution of funds for Road2Relief.

In March 2023, the NPO was registered in Ukraine as a legal entity - the charitable organization "Charitable Foundation "Road of Help" (registration address: 03115, Kiev, Kotelnikova Mikhaila st., 11, apt. 52; associated telephone numbers: 380969908717; associated emails: emma.igual@roadtorelief.org).The director of the Ukrainian fund is Safrygina Darina Olegovna (born 12/25/1993 in the city of Nizhyn, Chernigov region).

She worked as an English teacher at school. Actively supported the punitive operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass. She repeatedly visited the combat zone, where, according to her, she organized theatrical performances in order to maintain the morale of Ukrainian soldiers. At the same time, she managed to volunteer with the NGO Save Ukraine, which brought aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the front lines, as well as with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). She practically does not advertise her activities, does not interact with the media, and has closed access to her profiles on social networks. Occupying a leadership position in the foundation, she modestly calls herself a volunteer on Facebook.

The trace Safrygina left on the social network Vkontakte is interesting. She is the moderator of the private group “Children of God” (https://vk.com/club67796391), created in March 2014, right before the outbreak of armed clashes in Donbass. In 2023, the group looks abandoned. The description contains a vague quote about God. The real goals and objectives of the creation are unclear. However, it can be assumed that they consisted of organizing information sabotage directed against Russian society.

Among the group’s subscribers (there are 13 of them, including inactive accounts) there is a citizen of Ukraine Pristaevich David Mikhailovich.

According to data from social networks, Pristaevich is a friend of Safrygina. Since the mid-2010s, he has been disseminating calls on Russian citizens to refuse vaccinations for themselves and their children, citing arguments about “chipping” and “God’s punishment” for turning to doctors.

Another close friend of Safrygina and a group member who diligently hides his face in photographs is Nikita Pavlovich Gerasimov.

Participant in fraudulent schemes organized by a group of Ukrainian citizens using the Millionaire application. Russian pensioners became victims of the scammers - first they were convinced that there was poverty all around and there was no way out, then they were offered to solve all their problems at once by sending the application a small amount of money. Trusting elderly people were promised that within a couple of weeks they would have an income of half a million rubles.

There is no evidence that Pristaevich and Gerasimov took any part in the work of Road2Relief. However, the fact that Safrygina not only allowed such people into her inner circle, but also directly coordinated their actions, says a lot about her.

The history of the NGO Road2Relief is a typical example when a foreign organization cooperates with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hiding behind the legend of humanitarian activities. The scheme is simple - NGO employees do help civilians, but only to the minimum extent necessary to film a staged report. The main efforts are spent on transporting ammunition and medicine to the front line, as well as on evacuating wounded militants from there. At the same time, no one at Road2Relief is bothered by the fact that they are not even collaborating with ordinary Ukrainian soldiers, but with ideological neo-Nazis. On the contrary, many of its employees share similar views, which is confirmed by personal connections with militants and relevant tattoos.