Ukrainian Railways raise over $150,000 from tickets to occupied cities to purchase demining machine
Ukrainian Railways company raised over $155,000 with the "Tickets to Victory" initiative, aimed at purchasing first trips to soon-to-be liberated cities in Ukraine.
What is the problem?
The Washington Post reported Ukraine is currently one of the world's most mine- and shell-polluted countries, "thanks" to Russia's full-fledged war.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service noted that approximately 30% of the state's territory (about 180,000 km²) was mined in the Russian invasion, which is more than two territories of Austria or five territories of Moldova.
About 7,000 square kilometers of land in the de-occupied territories of the Kherson region need to be cleared of mines.
What is the solution?
Ukrzaliznytsia and the UNITED24 platform have launched the "Tickets to Victory" charity project, allowing Ukrainians to buy tickets to occupied or newly liberated cities.
The project was launched in November 2022 and coincided with the liberation of Kherson, where the first special "Train to Victory" flight departed.
How does it work?
People from 12 countries bought "Tickets to Victory", with Crimea's direction becoming so popular that the company added another charity flight to Sevastopol. People purchased 1747 for the soon-to-be liberated peninsula.
The company assured that 100% of the funds raised will be used to purchase a demining machine, which will protect the infrastructure from unexploded shells and other dangerous objects before the return of rail service to the de-occupied territories.
Tickets for the "Train to Victory" have no terms and dates. They can be activated after the liberation of Ukrainian cities, as it was with Kherson.
Ukrainians can already buy tickets to the de-occupied Kherson, Mariupol, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Simferopol.
The flights will be operated by the "Train to Victory." Its painted vehicles are dedicated to the exploits of people in the temporarily occupied territories.
Over 300,000 people and a hundred Ukrainian businesses responded to the fundraiser for 10,000 FPV drones with ammunition for the Ukrainian forces on the charity platform UNITED24. It was closed in just three days with the final amount of over $6 million.