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Uncovering fraudsters in Ukraine, #1: Richard Woodruff



This is the first of a series of articles uncovering serial fraudsters that have come to Ukraine to make money and steal from generous donors. It is one of the reasons why “donor drought” has become such a serious problem in Ukraine: a variety of people and registered charitable organisations have become embroiled in schemes to steal money from generous donors in the West, typically using social media such as Twitter or Facebook. They put in advertisements for their good works, most of which are fake (they are not doing this work at all), and naive people donate money to them. One of the longest-serving of these individuals is a British purported chef by the name of Richard Woodruff. He is notorious for collecting money from donors and then simply spending it on himself.


We know a number of things about Mr Woodruff, not all of them terribly complimentary.


Firstly, he purports to run an organisation called “Frontline Kit”, established in 2023, although it is not clear that this organisation is registered anywhere and it is not clear what it does. It is just a vehicle for his collection of funds, presumably for his personal use since he is known to live in Lviv, in western Ukraine, without a residence permit and it seems from personal comments to a number of people that he never intends to return to the United Kingdom again. What the Frontline Kit is, is unclear, but the website for that organisation (whatever it may be) suggests that he is from London. This is in stark contradistinction to his last known address, which is in Crowborough, East Sussex. This is confirmed in a BBC article about him. So this is a concerning inconsistency.


In 2023 there was a notorious scandal in which a volunteers’ kitchen in Lviv, the Lviv Volunteers’ Kitchen, issued a press release on Twitter formally disassociating themselves from Mr Woodruff, who had apparently been spending money donated to him via PayPal and other insecure forms of electronic money transfer to spend on his personal life and also to spend on combat drones. This is a vital distinction, because many donors are happy to spend money on food for military and civilian causes but do not want to spend money directly on death or the means to cause death. The relationship between Mr Woodruff and Lviv Volunteers’ Kitchen became so toxic that they decided to have nothing to do with him.


Then Mr Woodruff disappeared for a while, and re-emerged in late 2024 and early 2025 trying to make enemies amongst the NGO community in Lviv where the greater bulk of international NGO support is based. He went round trying to cause fights, in some cases succeeding, presumably using his ill-gotten gains to fund this activity. He also went round trying to video individual volunteers who did not approve of his activities saying or doing compromising things.


It is understood that he still does not hold a valid residence permit for Ukraine, and is a gross overstayer of Ukraine’s immigration restrictions, apparently never intending to leave Ukraine again. There have been stories of his financial irregularities, including failing to keep proper accounts in the donations he has received. Since his split with Lviv Volunteers’ Kitchen he has become something of a pariah in Lviv, following people round spookily with video cameras and associating with some of the least desirable members of the NGO community in the city.


Overhanging all of this is the question of whether there is an active criminal investigation into the UK fundraising activities of Mr Woodruff: that is to say, whether he has been acting in theft in breach of trust, in spending money for fundraising on himself and his pet projects rather than on those projects that he promised his donors his money would be spent on. We can only speculate as to why Mr Woodruff appears never to intend to return to the United Kingdom, or whether he was ever a chef or why he chose to move to Ukraine; but he is certainly a specialist in social media, filling it with his own propaganda.


This sort of person is despicable, downgrading the reputation of the international community in Lviv and in Ukraine as a whole. He is deplorable but it is to be imagined that for as long as the war continues, criminals such as this can continue to act in Ukraine without fear of recourse: Ukraine has an ineffective legal system and arrangements for the extradition of suspected criminals from Ukraine to other European countries have expectedly broken down in the course of the war. The only way Mr Woodruff may be caught is if he crosses an international border, which he has expressed an indication never to do.


Alas, Mr Woodruff is only one of the people in the murky domain of purported NGO architecture that rips off the system and gullible donors. His following round NGO community members with video cameras late at night to try to intimidate them is just one of many examples of his insidious behaviour. He is to be avoided at all costs. Avoid him at your peril.


So that you may be aware, some of his contact details are:


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