A toy version of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made by a small suburban U.S. toy company has made a big impact to the tune of $145,000 (€131,000).
Based in Naperville, Illinois, Citizen Brick started making unofficial 'Lego' figurines of Zelensky to raise money for the Ukrainian people after the Russian invasion started last month.
Owner Joe Trupia says what started out as a simple fundraising idea quickly ballooned into something much bigger.
"Having sold out the first batch of them immediately, but to people we knew, our regular customers, we kind of thought we were done with it," he said.
"Then we started getting pings on the phone and we saw it was getting reposted on the Ukrainian Instagram page, which was kind of a shock. Suddenly, we were getting a lot of followers from Ukraine, people messaging us, it was kind of overwhelming."
Trupia says the funds from Citizen Brick's sales will go to Direct Relief, a charity that claims to have sent over 30 tons of medical aid to Ukraine.
