Millions of euros have already been collected by the initiative supporting Kyiv's war effort.
ADVERTISEMENTA Czech crowdfunding project is raising money for a "gift for Putin" that will arm Kyiv.
So far, the initiative has raised €23 million from more than 188,000 donors to purchase a tank, rocket launcher, mine clearance system, drones and munitions for the Ukrainian army.
This comes as fears grow the West is growing weary of providing support to Kyiv in its war against Russia.
Foreign donors have provided 8% of the money collected, with the initiative promoted in six languages.
The Czech site also sells T-shirts mocking the Russian president and other gifts to galvanise donors.
Led by former TV editor Martin Ondracek, the project wants to raise enough money to buy a Black Hawk helicopter, worth an estimated €3.6 million.
“We want to tell the world that Ukraine needs these things,” said the 53-year-old, adding it was also an attempt to put the "pressure on".
According to him, supplies delivered to Kyiv by the fundraiser have had a ripple effect on Western governments.
Three months after the Czech initiative financed an assault tank for Ukraine, the Netherlands and Denmark signed an agreement providing ten armoured vehicles from the Czech Republic to Kyiv, he explained.
“The same thing happened after we sent an anti-drone system,” added Ondracek. “And we know that the American army has thousands of Black Hawks.”
'Money arrives more slowly'
The Czech government has provided Ukraine with significant humanitarian and military aid, as well as hosting around half a million Ukrainian refugees.
But this support is waning. Ondracek fears Western European countries will tire of supporting Kyiv and its war effort.
“Ukraine is too far away from them and they don’t have any terrible historical experience with Russia,” he said.
While part of Czechoslovakia, Czechia experienced significant political repression, restrictions on personal freedoms and economic hardship when it was ruled by communists under Moscow's control from 1948 to 1989.
The minimum donation to the campaign is 1,968 crowns (€80), referring to the repression of the liberal Prague Spring movement by the Soviets in 1968.
“Gift for Putin” originated from a crowdfunding campaign led by the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, which had dazzling success, raising nearly €2.3 million at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
The pace of donations has slowed since then. After the first three days of collection for the Black Hawk, the counter is at around €366,000.
“The atmosphere within society has changed in a year, the money arrives more slowly,” said Ondracek, hoping to raise the sum required for the Black Hawk in 150 days.
ADVERTISEMENTThe TV editor, who has hosted a Ukrainian family in his second home since the start of the war, has visited Ukraine several times.
“I’m really looking forward to going back there at the end of the war, with my wife, for a long vacation,” he said.