Dig in Minecraft. Rebuild in Real Life: UNITED24 have recreated the famous Soledar salt mines in Minecraft to rebuild a school destroyed by russians
Фото: UNITED24
French developers Endorah, alongside UNITED24, have presented Minesalt, a Minecraft-based game that recreates the famous salt mines of Soledar, a city in Donetsk Oblast. The real-life location was battled over for more than a year, and since February 2023, has been occupied by russia. The goal of the Minesalt project is to remind the world about the war in Ukraine and raise funds to rebuild the Velyka Kostromka school destroyed by russians.
The town of Soledar in Donetsk Oblast and its mines were the largest salt producers in Europe. However, with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Soledar became a fortress on the front line. After almost a year of battles, the town and its mines were occupied. Recreating the mines in Minesalt is an opportunity to tell the world about not only their history, but also the struggle for Ukraine's freedom.
UNITED24 ambassadors became the game's characters: Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine Paul Nurse, actor Misha Collins, boxer Oleksandr Usyk, astronaut Scott Kelly, footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, actresses Katheryn Winnick and Ivanna Sakhno. They will accompany the players in the virtual mines of Soledar.
They will be joined by Stepan Bandrivskyi, a real-life person who has been working at the salt mining enterprise for ten years. He took on the difficult task of helping to recreate the famous mines in Minesalt.
The biggest challenge for this project was to collect information about the mine. Due to the war, the mine is occupied and no one is able to go there and obtain the archives. The enterprise had developed a virtual reality tour for visitors before the war, but it wasn't enough to recreate all the details. So, the UNITED24 team started interviewing the miners and made new archives from their memories, personal photos and videos. One of the workers made a hand-written map that was digitized and sent to the developers.
"After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Soledar became a fortress of the war, defending against russian forces for over a year. Now, as the city is under temporary occupation, Minesalt is the only way to explore the incredible beauty of these salt mines and commemorate the historical and monumental elements of this place. It preserves its memory, paying tribute to the people who have worked there generation after generation.
There are many hidden places waiting for the players – through the search for crystals, they will learn the history of Soledar and its mines. We hope that as many people as possible around the world will go through Minesalt and fall in love with the Soledar mines as we have," Yaroslava Gres, UNITED24 Coordinator.
The player's task is to collect crystals in the shortest possible time and complete the quiz at the end of the game based on what they have seen. Among the prizes is an Xbox Series X and packs of salt 'SOLEDARITY. Ukrainian Rock-Solid Strength' signed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UNITED24 ambassadors, as well as Twitch gift cards.
The following prizes will be raffled off amongst everyone who makes a donation:
- 100 packs of 'SOLEDARITY. Ukrainian Rock-Solid Strength salt
- 10 customized avatars, based on the winner's likeness, for a donation of $10 or more
- 5 packs of salt 'SOLEDARITY. Ukrainian Rock-Solid Strength' signed by the President of Ukraine for a donation of $24 or more
Minesalt is available from March 21. Anyone can play the game as many times as they like. Winners will be announced after the end of the project. The number of donations from any one player is unlimited.
All donations will be directed to the reconstruction of the Velyka Kostromka school. Before the full-scale war, 250 children studied there. On October 11, 2022, the school was destroyed by a russian missile. Currently, children are studying online and waiting for their school to be rebuilt. To make this wish come true, UNITED24 is raising another $1,150,000.
Donations for the rebuilding of the school can be made on the project's landing page or via the link in-game (you can make a donation here).
Learn more about the game here: https://u24.gov.ua/minesalt
