20 July 2022; MEMO: People in Norway and Canada have launched crowdfunding campaigns to help buy Turkish combat drones for Ukraine's war effort against Russia's invasion, following on from efforts made by some other countries.
In a campaign published on the fundraising website, Spleis, it announced that Norwegians aim to collect 55 million kroner ($5.5 million) to transfer to the Ukrainian Embassy, in an effort to help the embattled country purchase Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufactured in Turkiye.
According to a statement on the website, the aim of the campaign is to "Give a Bayraktar from the Norwegian to the Ukrainian people – [to] show solidarity with Ukraine's fight against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin."
Meanwhile, Canadians running their own campaign to raise a similar amount of C$7 million ($5.5 million) to purchase the Bayraktar TB2 drone for Kyiv prior to Ukraine's independence day on 24 August.
The fundraising campaigns launched by people from the two countries in support of the Ukrainian war effort against the Russian invasion comes shortly after similar efforts from Lithuania and Poland. The Norwegian campaign recalled that, stating that "Lithuania collected one Bayraktar in three days, Poland collected three Bayraktars and Ukraine collected three Bayraktars in a few days. Of course, Norway must do at least the same".
Both the Polish and Lithuanian campaigns raised their target amounts over a month ago, but the Turkish drone manufacturer, Baykar, refused the payment and provided the UAVs free of charge to Ukraine, instead asking that the raised amounts be utilised for the aid of the Ukrainian people.
In recent years, Kyiv has bought dozens of Bayraktar TB2 drones, most before the Russian invasion at the end of February and some after. As was previously seen in their operations over the skies of Libya, Syria and formerly-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, the drones have also proven effective in Ukraine against Russian targets.
