Norway initiates fundraising to purchase Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones for Ukraine amid war

In the latest development, Norway has initiated a fundraising campaign to buy Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones for Ukrainian armed forces amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The decision of Norway comes after Lithuania and Poland had made a similar move. The campaign website stated that Lithuania purchased a Bayraktar in three days and Poland bought three Bayraktars. The campaign website called on the people to make contributions and stressed that "Norway must do the same."

"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 - at least!," the statement on the fundraising website read. 

The campaign published on the Spleis fundraising website said, "Give a Bayraktar from the Norwegian to the Ukrainian people - show solidarity with Ukraine's fight against Putin." It further stated that each citizen of Norway must come forward and donate at least 10 Norwegian Krones for Bayraktar TB2. Furthermore, it stated that the first 1,000 people who donated more than 250 kroner will be able to name the unmanned combat aerial vehicle. So far, 304,110 kroner have been collected from 701 donors through the campaign.

Lithuania raised 5 million euros to buy Bayraktar drone

Earlier in July, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced that Lithuania has delivered a Bayraktar combat drone to Ukraine. In May, Lithuania raised more than 5 million euros (Rs 41,01,96,172.75 ) to buy a Bayraktar drone for Ukraine for Ukrainian military forces to counter the Russian military offensive. The Defence Ministry used around 1.5 million euros donated by the people of Lithuania to equip the Bayraktar drone with missiles, LRT reported. Lithuanian government in a tweet announced that the people have been able to raise 5 million euros to purchase the Bayraktar drone for the Ukrainian armed forces.

In the tweet, the Lithuanian government said, "In just 3,5 days people of Lithuania raised €5 million to buy Bayraktar drone for Ukraine in a crowdfunding initiative." The Turkish manufacturer, Baker had announced that it would gift the drone to Lithuania that was to be given to Ukraine. Similarly, a fundraising campaign was launched in Poland to buy more unmanned "Warmate" systems, Newsweek reported. The fundraising campaign was launched on the crowdfunding site Pomagam to raise money for unmanned aircraft manufactured by WB Electronics.

Image: AP