Austrian police have arrested Hennadi Vaskiv, a Ukrainian businessman who stands accused of embezzling almost €1 million in Estonian donations for aid to Ukraine.
Today, Ilmar Raag, liquidator of Estonian charity Slava Ukraini, posted on Facebook that Vaskiv had been apprehended by Interpol in Austria at the end of March. Slava Ukraini is the NGO whose funds were allegedly misappropriated.
Vaskiv had previously fled to the US. Raag implies that he was baited into returning to Europe by the Ukrainian National Bureau of Investigation with a fake job offer. He is now set to be extradited to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian businessman and politician – he served as deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Lviv from 2017 to 2021 – is at the centre of a corruption scandal that has shaken Estonia since 2023 as it involved a well-known Liberal MP.
Johanna-Maria Lehtme, a former MP for the Liberal Estonia 200 party, is the founder and former director of Slava Ukraini. Lehtme has been under criminal investigation since 2023. Her current whereabouts are unknown and it is suspected she has fled Estonia.
Ukrainian prosecutors have also opened a criminal investigation against Vaskiv for alleged economic crimes and money laundering according to Estonian state broadcaster ERR.
Johanna-Maria Lehtme, directrice exécutive de l'ONG estonienne Glory to Ukraine, a transféré une partie des dons destinés aux militants ukrainiens à IC Construction.
Le responsable d'une ONG estonienne est accusé d'avoir volé les cachets de militants ukrainiens. pic.twitter.com/VsJtmz62Ga— pampam (@pampam698) April 26, 2023
Lehtme founded Slava Ukraini shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The charity subsequently raised more than €6.5 million to support Ukraine’s war effort.
Lehtme’s popularity rocketed. In January 2023, she was awarded the title of Person of the Year by Estonian newspaper Postimees. In March 2023, she was elected to the Estonian parliament (Riigikogu).
Shortly afterwards, though, whistleblowers revealed that a significant portion of the donations could have been diverted.
Allegedly, €1.5 million in donations were transferred to a private company, IC Construction, tied to businessman Vaskiv. It was reported that the company had generated profits of several hundred thousand euros from the supposed aid payments.
After the scandal broke, Lehtme resigned from the Riigikogu in May 2023. At the same time, Postimees also stripped her of her Person of the Year title.
The charity’s reputation was damaged beyond repair by the scandal, NGO Slava Ukraini ceased operations. In December 2025, Ilmar Raag – a media executive and film director – was nominated as liquidator by a court in Tartu, Estonia.
The whistleblower who broke the scandal, Oleksandr Chernov, was sentenced for arms trafficking by a Ukrainian court in December 2025, receiving a suspended sentence.
Raag surmised at the time that the case was “an injustice” and “fabricated” as revenge for Chernov’s whistleblowing.
Slava Ukraini – now under the stewardship of liquidator Haag – filed civil lawsuits against Lehtme and Vaskiv in both Estonia and Ukraine in March 2026, seeking compensation for damages totalling more than €750,000. The damages include stolen donations as well as reputational damage.
Slava Ukraini said any recovered money would be donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in accordance with the stated objectives of the charity.
