Crowdfunding Started in Norway to Buy Bayraktar Drones for Ukraine

After a successful campaign in Lithuania and Poland to buy Bayraktar drones for Ukraine, a similar crowdfunding project has commenced in Norway to buy the Turkish-made drones to help Kyiv in its war against Russia.

Some NOK 55 million (about $5.5 million) are planned to be collected as part of the campaign launched by Spleis and transferred to the aid fund at the Ukrainian Embassy. As of writing this article, 646 Norwegians have donated NOK 273,530. Funds will be collected for 79 more days.

“Lithuania collected 1 Bayraktar in three days, Poland collected 3 Bayraktars and Ukraine collected 3 Bayraktars in a few days. Of course, Norway must do the same… Donate Bayraktar from the Norwegians to the people of Ukraine — show solidarity in the fight against Putin,” the organizers of the fundraising said.

Each citizen can donate about NOK 10 to be able to buy Bayraktar TB2. The first 1,000 sponsors each donated more than NOK 250 ($25). They will be allowed to name the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).

More than $3 million has been collected from 150,000 Polish people from June 28 until July 18. This is 75% of the required amount of $5.5 million, the cost of a single unit of Bayraktar. This initiative was launched by a well-known public figure, political scientist and journalist Sławomir Sierakowski on the crowdfunding platform Zrzutka.pl.

Earlier, Lithuanians donated around $6 million to buy the UCAV under a campaign launched by Internet broadcaster Laisves TV, of which some $1.6 million was used to buy equipment and missiles for the drone.

Funds collected by both Lithuania and Poland was later used to provide other forms of assistance to Ukraine; since the Turkish drone maker, Baykar, donated them to Ukraine for free. The company is also donating three more drones to the Ukraine Army, after it learnt about Ukrainian people’s Bayraktar fundraising initiative which aimed to raise around $15.4 million within a week.