Restaurant Barrel House Korchma in Etobicoke was the victim of a bizarre and disheartening theft yesterday.

The traditional Ukrainian restaurant had thousands of dollars worth of cash stolen from their donation boxes placed for patrons to provide humanitarian relief for the Ukraine crisis.

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Restaurant co-owner Tetyana Barylko tells blogTO that the man walked into the restaurant around 11:30 a.m. yesterday, just 30 minutes after they opened up for the day.

The man allegedly first asked the server to use the restaurant's bathroom, and then asked if he could buy some takeout containers, although he didn't purchase any food.

When the server left to the kitchen to grab some takeout containers, the unidentified man is seen on security cameras quickly grabbing two donation boxes before taking off.

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Cameras even caught the man running around the building and jumping the fence. The restaurant managed to find one of the donation boxes broken on the ground, but all the money was already taken.

Barylko told blogTO that the boxes were full of generous donations and possibly contained up to $2,000 in cash.

Barrel House Korchma has been outspoken in its support of Ukraine since the crisis unfolded in February 2022 and graciously set up donation boxes to support humanitarian aid in the war-torn country.

The restaurant is now seeking the public's assistance in identifying the man accused of stealing the donation boxes.