Poland and Lithuania recently raised millions of euros to donate Turkish Bayraktar TB2 combat drones to Ukraine. Additional help for Volodymyr Zelensky’s army.
Each day, a little more, the West seems to reinforce its assistance to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. Whether through the delivery of arms, money or even by welcoming refugees, the methods are diverse and varied. Some are even a little out of the ordinary, without however losing their effectiveness. This is evidenced by the “collections” carried out by hundreds of thousands of inhabitants in Poland or Lithuania to buy combat drones. A real “war effort” which, it must be admitted, seems to have borne fruit.
4.7 million euros raised for Bayraktar drone
4.7 million euros is the sum collected by more than 200,000 Poles who wanted to come to the aid of the Ukrainian forces. “Until now we have just been able to watch all these terrible things through the media. There we gave ourselves the chance (…) to do something real to defend Ukraine, for the Ukrainians”, explained the initiator of the project, Slawomir Sierakowski, on the television channel TVN24.
An act that did not go unnoticed by the Ukrainian government, which welcomed the news in a tweet. “We are grateful to Slawomir Sierakowski and all those who participated in raising 22.5 million zlotys (Polish currency editor’s note) to buy a Bayraktar TB-2 drone for Ukraine! Dear Poland, we are happy to have a neighbor like you!”, is it written in the message. According to kyiv, these drones proved to be a particularly formidable weapon and came into action in the early hours of the Russian invasion.
Poland is not the first to have taken this kind of initiative. At the end of May, Lithuania had collected, in the same way, 5 million euros to offer a Bayraktar TB2 to Ukraine. The money was collected in just three and a half days despite the country having only 2.8 million inhabitants. “It’s probably the first time in history that citizens of one state can buy and donate such heavy weapons to another state,” said influencer Andrius Tapinas, founder of the local online TV channel Laisves TV, at the origin of the initiative.
But the Lithuanians did not have to pay a single penny for the purchase of this drone. Indeed, after the efforts made by the Lithuanian people to buy it, Turkey decided to offer it for free.
“It’s unbelievable but Turkey has just agreed to give the Bayraktar for which Lithuania had collected money, for free. It’s amazing! For the collected money, we will buy the necessary ammunition for the Bayraktar and the the rest of the money will also go to support Ukraine. Thank you Turkiye!”, said Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
