The Professor of History at Yale University, Timothy Snyder, has joined the team of the UNITED24 fundraising platform, initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He became the second ambassador after actor Mark Hamill who will focus his efforts on fundraising for Defence and Demining, according to the Ukrainian presidential website.
Timothy Snyder met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in person, during his September visit to Kyiv. Recently, the famous historian made his course of Yale University lectures, "The Making of Modern Ukraine," available for everyone. It has already gained almost 3 million views. Now he will be supporting Ukraine in his new role as UNITED24 ambassador. Snyder will raise funds for an anti-drone system to counter the UAVs constantly used by Russia to attack Ukraine's critical infrastructure.
"Timothy Snyder is an outstanding historian and a true friend of Ukraine, who tells the whole world about the importance of Ukraine, its true history, values, the way they were shaped, and why we need to protect them, in his works. I am also grateful that more people will understand, not only about the reasons and preconditions of our fight, but also learn about how they can help us," said Zelenskyy.
"I'm supporting Ukraine because Ukraine must win this war. Ukrainian victory will open the region and the world to democracy and give us all hope. But for now, Ukraine is threatened. Much of Ukraine is under occupation. The aggressor, breaking all the laws of war, seeks to kill civilians and to deprive them of the basic means of existence such as food, water, and electricity. To protect Ukrainians, to protect Ukraine, and thereby to defend all these values, we must be able to stop these attacks," Timothy Snyder said.
"I'm a historian and a scholar and in the long run I want to be raising money to rebuild libraries, schools, and universities. But right now, we have to do what is more urgent, which is to raise money to help Ukraine to defend itself from murderous drones. That is why I have set my goal as raising $1.25 million for anti-drone defense," said Snyder.
UNITED24 is a fundraising platform, initiated by the President of Ukraine. It is the central venue for charitable donations in support of Ukraine. During the first six months of operation, UNITED24 collected $213 million from citizens of 110 countries worldwide. Among UNITED24 ambassadors are famous athletes – Andriy Shevchenko, Elina Svitolina and Oleksandr Usyk, creative director of Balenciaga – Demna, American actors – Liev Schreiber and Mark Hamill, music band Imagine Dragons, singer and actress Barbra Streisand, astronaut Scott Kelly.