United to win: Romanian volunteer raises record funds for Ukraine after Trump’s remarks on ending military aid
Військовослужбовець ЗСУ запускає FPV-дрон. Фото: DefenseExpress.
In response to Trump's statements about halting military assistance to Ukrainian forces, a Romanian volunteer has raised a record amount of funds for Ukraine.
The Defense Romania publication reports this.
As noted, the fundraising was organized by activist and war correspondent Radu Hossu, who collects donations exclusively for defense equipment, such as reconnaissance drones or electronic warfare equipment to jam Russian kamikaze drones.
The volunteer noted that the main condition of the collection was to save lives, not take them, so the collected funds will be used for non-lethal means.
"One of the conditions I put forward was that this money should be used to buy only equipment that does not kill, but saves lives. That is, reconnaissance drones, electronic warfare equipment (EW), which jam Russian kamikaze drones and thus save Ukrainian units and military personnel," Hossu notes.
UAV of the Hor complex for the 3rd Special Operations Brigade. August 2024. Photo: Frame from the video of the Serhii Prytula Foundation
In the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's controversial remarks suggesting closer ties with Russia and his disagreement with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, a fundraising campaign collected 64,000 euros within 46 hours. This amount marks a record for such a brief period since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started.
During this fundraising effort, most contributions came from Moldovan and Romanian citizens. Within just 36 hours of launching the campaign, 897 individuals donated, with the average contribution amounting to approximately 42 euros.
Patria SKY drone. Photo: Patria.
"Even for selfish, if not moral reasons, for us, for Romanians, for our future, Romania within Europe must continue to support Ukraine. The alternative is the fall of Ukraine, then the Republic of Moldova, and without the US, Russia will be encouraged to intervene at its discretion in the Baltic states and even in Romania. And just to prevent this from happening, if you don't care about the people in Ukraine, but your children, Ukraine MUST stand up," the Defense Romania article says.
The amount collected is not final. According to Hossu, if the pace of the new aid collection remains at the same level, then 1 million euros will be possible in two weeks.
The volunteer also believes that Europe will need to speed up aid to Ukraine.
"Use any legal methods to force Hungary and Slovakia – two Russian Trojan horses in our European family – to accept further support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," he noted.
Notably, the volunteer's support effort began in August 2022 and continues to this day. During this period, Radu Hossг has successfully raised over 800,000 euros.
For reference:
Czech volunteers are also making a significant contribution to supporting Ukraine. They were the first in the world to raise money for a military helicopter for Ukraine through donations within the framework of the "Gift for Putin" project.
In total, the volunteers raised just over 72 million Czech crowns (2.87 million euros) out of the required 70 million. Twenty-four hundred donors, including private individuals, enterprises, and non-governmental organizations, sent money for the helicopter.
