Howard Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffet, has donated $2.7 million to provide transportation and medical supplies for Ukraine’s defense force.
Howard Buffett, the second child of Warren Buffett, is an agricultural tycoon and a conservationist–as unlikely as that combination may seem–and a philanthropist. He founded the Howard G. Buffett Foundation in 1999 with a goal of supporting projects that balance meeting human needs of food and fresh water while protecting biodiversity. The Foundation views improving food security as a powerful weapon for conflict mitigation and against human trafficking. Some of its largest projects have been a three-year initiative to combat rhino poaching in South Africa, and an infrastructure project in Tibú, Colombia to help farmers move from growing coca for the drug trade to growing sustainable cacao and coffee instead.
On Monday, it was reported that the HGB Foundation transferred $2.7 million to the Spirit of America organization, a non-profit which works alongside armed forces, mostly U.S. but also abroad, to fill in the gaps in troop needs. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Spirit of America has also had a focus on providing protective equipment to Ukrainian soldiers and civilian volunteers.
Howard Buffett’s donation will provide nine 50-seat buses to transport Territorial Defense forces in Ukraine, getting soldiers and volunteers where they’re needed and helping to move refugees out of the country. The funds will also provide hundreds of trauma kits to be sent to the front lines.
“I’ve never quite seen anything like this in my lifetime. It’s millions of refugees trying to leave the country and it’s just an overwhelming situation for the country… I believe we’ve got to support Ukraine in this fight. It’s a difficult fight for them,” said Howard Buffett after his visit to Ukraine last week, where President Volodymyr Zelensky called on him to invest both in the fight and in the badly damaged agricultural infrastructure of the country.
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