Did they make a pseudo-cartoon with 13 million from Ukraine's budget?

The authors deny the accusations.

In October 2018, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture held a tender for the production of a “national patriotic film” titled “Kuzyuka”. The only bidder was Animation Studio “UM-GRUP”, which signed a contract worth 12.8 million hryvnias.

At the time, the Culture Ministry was headed by Yevhen Nishchuk.

What is the scandal and what is Kuzyuka?

At present, Kuzyuka is a YouTube channel with 21 videos, but it cannot by any means be called a cartoon. 

No animation is used; instead, a regular toy with four paws, a head and large pointed ears appears on screen. What kind of creature this is cannot be determined — most likely it is an invented beast along the lines of the Soviet “Cheburashka”.

The action takes place in a room, and the toy is controlled by a human hand off-screen. Apparently, the same person also does all the voices.

For example, like this.

The videos have garnered from several hundred to several thousand views each, which would be normal were it not for suspicions of embezzlement, since the quality of the content does not match the sum.

Comments on the videos had been disabled at the time of writing.

What did the authors say?

When a scandal over possible “embezzlement” of budget funds erupted on social media, the authors responded. A video appeared on the Kuzyuka channel in which Taras Borovok, a former employee of several Ukrainian TV channels such as ICTV and “1+1”, and apparently the person whose hands controlled the main character-toy in the videos, tried to defend himself against accusations of misappropriating funds.

His key points:

1. The videos published on the YouTube channel have nothing to do with budget funds and are being made at the authors’ own expense
2. All this time, the Kuzyuka cartoon was actually being created with funds from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, but it has not yet been released.
3. A 24-episode cartoon about Kuzyuka will air on unnamed Ukrainian national TV channels and on the same YouTube channel. Each episode — 9 minutes long.

After his remarks, the video showed real animated footage.

What is still wrong even after the authors’ response

And although the cartoon footage makes it convincing that some work on creating an animated series was or is being done, there are several strange points.

1. Why show the videos in this form more than a year after the contract was signed?

The authors, if they are sincere in their intentions, exposed themselves. The contract with the Culture Ministry was signed a year and a half ago, while videos of dubious quality began appearing three months ago. Suspicions that this exact product is being presented as a state order — are natural.

2. Borovok named neither release dates for the cartoon nor specific channels.

So what stage is development of the animated series actually at, and were a few animation frames created precisely in case a scandal broke out?

3. If the YouTube videos are merely promos for the cartoon, why are they still being released despite their low effectiveness?

From several hundred to several thousand views per video (and possibly the views have grown considerably since the scandal spread on social media) — that is not much even for Ukrainian YouTube.

If these videos — are just the authors’ entertainment and not paid for with state money, then they exposed themselves to the scandal, because they never explained their actions earlier and did not make clear that what has already been released is a different product from what the Culture Ministry ordered.

TK Media