Reed Hastings, the co-founder, chairman, and co-CEO of Netflix, has pledged $1 million to an organisation that provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
“Thanks to @evgeny director, a $1 million donation is on the way for emergency aid to Razom,” the Netflix executive wrote. Every dime counts.”
“Russian-born Evgeny Afineevsky, aka @evgeny directora, directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom for Netflix in 2015.”
The film follows the upheaval in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, when student protests in support of European integration erupted into a violent revolution demanding President Viktor F. Yanukovich’s resignation, a movement that is not unrelated to Russia’s invasion and the tough resistance it currently meets.
“They’ve had a taste of liberty. They assimilated into European society and desired to take a completely different path (than Moscow).”
“Since Maidana, they’ve been battling in this way… Believing in their freedom, believing in the freedom of their own children, demonstrates that these people will not lay down their guns. They will battle till the last drop of blood is shed.”
The Ukrainian Revolution prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to seize Crimea in 2014, sparking uprisings in Ukraine’s eastern border regions. Just before ordering a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, Putin annexed the territory.
Today, the organisation retweeted Hastings’ news, along with a photo of Afineevsky and the remark, “This is Razom with @evgeny director from aeons ago. But this image also depicts a wonderful relationship that has endured throughout the years, up to now, when we are so grateful to have Evgeny on our side. Thank you very much.”
Last month, Hastings and his wife, producer Patty Quillin, donated $10 million to Tougaloo College and Brown University scholarship efforts. In 2020, the couple gave $120 million to the United Negro College Fund, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.
