Hundreds of Lithuanians have joined forces to raise funds and buy an advanced Bayraktar military drone for Ukrainians.
The target amount - 5 million euros - was collected in just three and a half days, mostly in small tranches. This was reported by Reuters, citing Lithuanian broadcaster Laisves TV, which launched the fundraiser.
“Before this war started, none of us thought we would buy weapons. But now it's okay. We need to do something to make the world a better place,” said Agne Belitskaite, who joined the Bayraktar campaign for Ukrainians.
The woman added that she had donated money to buy weapons for Ukraine before and was going to continue to win.
The purchase of the drone is organized by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense. Next week, it plans to sign a letter of intent to purchase the device in Turkey.
“This is the first time in history that ordinary people have raised money to buy something like Bayraktar. It is unprecedented, unbelievable,” said Pavlo Beshta, Ukraine's ambassador to Lithuania.
Also, in the beginning of May the Ukrainian fund “Come back alive” for a day collected 30 million hryvnyas for the PD-2 complex of the Ukrainian production consisting of two drones and a car. It is equipped with thermal imaging cameras. It is used for air reconnaissance and combat use as a carrier of bomb loads.