After Lithuania, Poland Starts Crowdfunding Drones for Ukraine

People of Poland have started a fundraiser to buy Bayraktar TB2 combat drones for Ukraine, following Lithuania’s suite.

On July 7, Lithuania sent the drone to Ukraine. Hundreds of Lithuanians donated €5.9 million to buy the drone for the war-torn country under a campaign launched by Internet broadcaster Laisves TV, of which some €1.5 million was used to buy equipment and missiles for the drone. Touched by the zeal of Lithuanians, Turkish drone maker Baykar donated it for free. The remainder of the crowdfunded money will be used to provide other forms of assistance to Ukraine.

Baykar is donating three more drones to the Ukraine Army, after it learnt about Ukrainian people’s Bayraktar fundraising initiative which aimed to raise UAH 500 million (around €15 million) within a week.

Pictures shared by the Lithuanian government showed the Bayraktar delivered with a logo of a hawk, in Lithuania’s and Ukraine’s colors. An internet vote in Lithuania named the UAV after the bird.

Inspired by Lithuanians, people in Poland are also collecting money to buy a Bayraktar for Ukraine. More than 62,000 people have managed to raise €1.47 million (as of July 7) on Zrzutka.pl crowdfunding platform since the campaign began on June 28, which is 30% of its cost price.

Slavomir Serakovsky, the organizer is a well-known public figure, political scientist and journalist. He expects to raise more than €5 million by the end of July.