EA fundraiser in the Czech Republic has raised enough money to give Ukraine a modernized T-72 main battle tank. Within about a month, 30 million crowns – the equivalent of almost 1.2 million euros – came together, as the organizers announced on Monday. More than 11,000 people took part in the Ukrainian embassy’s campaign under the motto “A gift for Putin”.
The tank already has a name: the organizers christened it “Tomas” after the co-founder and first President of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova thanked everyone involved. They had given Russian President Vladimir Putin a “proper present” for his 70th birthday on October 7, she sarcastically noted. She called the Kremlin boss a “KGB agent, murderer and crook”.
The next step is to collect money to buy ammunition for the tank. In total, the Ukrainian embassy in the Czech Republic has already received donations totaling more than 8.6 million euros. In addition, the Czech Ministry of Defense has supplied weapons and ammunition worth more than 160 million euros to Ukraine since the start of the Russian attack at the end of February.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic called on its citizens to leave Russia. Due to the deteriorating security situation in view of the ongoing war in Ukraine, trips to Russia should also be avoided, the Czech Foreign Ministry announced.
Meanwhile, according to information from US officials, the next package from the US government to support Ukraine will include four mobile Himar-type rocket launchers. Ammunition, explosive devices and protected vehicles are also planned for the $ 625 million package, according to the circles. The support will probably be officially announced on Tuesday.