Millions of euros have already been raised by the initiative to support kyiv’s war effort.
A Czech crowdfunding project is raising money for a “gift for Putin” that will arm kyiv.
To date, the initiative has raised 23 million euros, from more than 188,000 donors, to purchase a tank, a rocket launcher, a mine clearance system, drones and ammunition for the Ukrainian army .
The move comes amid fears that the West will tire of supporting kyiv in the war against Russia.
Foreign donors provided 8% of the money raised, and the initiative is promoted in six languages.
The Czech site also sells T-shirts mocking the Russian president and other gifts to galvanize donors.
Led by Martin Ondracek, a former television channel editor, the project aims to raise enough money to buy a Black Hawk helicopter, worth an estimated €3.6 million.
“We want to tell the world that Ukraine needs this combat equipment”confides the 53-year-old man, adding that it was also an attempt to “put pressure”.
He said the supplies delivered to kyiv by fundraisers had a ripple effect on Western governments.
Three months after the Czech initiative financed a tank for Ukraine, the Netherlands and Denmark signed an agreement to send ten armored vehicles from the Czech Republic to Kiev, explains he.
“The same thing happened after sending an anti-drone system”adds Martin Ondracek. “And we know that the US military has thousands of Black Hawks”.
Money comes slower
The Czech government provided Ukraine with significant humanitarian and military aid and hosted approximately half a million Ukrainian refugees.
But this support is fading. Martin Ondracek fears that Western European countries will tire of supporting kyiv and its war effort.
“Ukraine is too far away from them and they don’t have terrible historical experience with Russia”he says.
While part of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic experienced significant political repression, restrictions on individual freedoms, and economic hardship when it was ruled by communists under Moscow’s control from 1948 to 1989.
The minimum fundraising donation is 1,968 crowns (80 euros), in reference to the repression of the liberal Prague Spring movement by the Soviets in 1968.
“Gift for Putin” was born from a crowdfunding campaign led by the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, which was a resounding success, raising nearly 2.3 million euros at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022.
Since then, the pace of donations has slowed. After the first three days of collection for the Black Hawk, the counter stands at around 366,000 euros.
“The atmosphere within society has changed in a year. Money comes more slowly”confides Martin Ondracek, who hopes to raise the necessary sum for the Black Hawk in 150 days.
ADVERTISEMENTMartin Ondracek, who has hosted a Ukrainian family in his second home since the start of the war, has visited Ukraine several times.
“I’m really looking forward to going back there at the end of the war, with my wife, for a long vacation”he declares.
