“Gift for Putin”: With millions of euros already raised to send weapons to Ukraine, a Czech crowdfunding project has targeted the purchase of a Black Hawk helicopter over fears of a cut in Western aid to Kyiv, France Presse reports.

Since its launch, the “Gift for Putin” initiative has collected the equivalent of 23.1 million euros from more than 188,000 donors for the purchase of a tank, missile launcher, demining system, drones and ammunition. Foreign donors provided 8% of the amount. erect.

The Czech site, translated into six languages, also sells T-shirts mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin and other gifts to encourage donations.

The project, led by former TV producer Martin Ondracek, now aims to raise funds for the purchase of a Black Hawk helicopter, worth approximately 3.6 million euros.

“We want to tell the world that Ukraine needs such things” and “put pressure on it,” 53-year-old Ondracek told AFP.

According to him, supplies to Kyiv, which became possible thanks to these donations, put pressure on Western governments. Three months after the site financed a tank for Ukraine, the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark signed an agreement to purchase dozens of armored vehicles from the Czech Republic for delivery to Kyiv, he notes.

“The same thing happened after we sent the anti-drone system,” Ondracek notes. “And we know the US Army has thousands of Black Hawks,” he adds.

“Gift for Putin” made a strong debut, but the pace of donations is slowing

In turn, the Czech government provided significant humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine and accepted about half a million Ukrainian refugees. But this support is waning, and Ondracek fears that the countries of Western Europe will tire of supporting Kyiv and its military efforts.

“Ukraine is too far for them, and they have no terrible historical experience with Russia,” he accuses.

The site reminds that this does not apply to the former Czechoslovakia, which was ruled by Moscow-controlled communists from 1948 to 1989. The minimum donation amount is 1,968 kroner (80 euros), a reference to the Soviet repression of the liberal movement “Prague Spring” in 1968.

A Gift for Putin is the result of a crowdfunding campaign run by the Ukrainian Embassy in Prague that was a resounding success, raising nearly €2.3 million as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

“With this money, three days after the start of the war, four trucks filled with missile launchers were bought for Ukraine,” Ondracek recalled.

Since then, the pace of donations has slowed. After the first three days of fundraising for Black Hawk, the total amount was approximately €366,000.

“The atmosphere in society has changed in a year, and it has become more difficult to get money,” said Ondracek, who hopes to collect the necessary amount in 150 days. Among his future projects is the construction of a factory for the production of drones to counter Russian military superiority over Ukrainian troops in the area.

Ondracek, who has been hosting a Ukrainian family in his second home since the beginning of the war, has visited Ukraine several times. “I can’t wait to come back at the end of the war with my wife for a long holiday,” he says.