"Editor's note: This story features several interviewees who requested to be identified only by their first name or call sign for their safety. Every few weeks, Ukrainian bridal shop owner Ilia scrapes together a donation usually no more than $7. "If I had any doubts about how my money was being used, I wouldn't give it," said the grizzled 33-year-old, who is exempt from military service because he is blind in one eye."
"He asked that Business Insider blur their names due to concerns their families could be targeted by Russia. Ilia/Business Insider He's one of the hundreds of thousands contributing to Ukraine's extraordinary crowdfunding of its embattled military, which has become a key pillar of the war effort. With Ukrainian forces strapped for resources, crowdfunders domestically and globally raise money for anything Kyiv's Western allies don't usually provide, from civilian trucks and defensive drone nets to tourniquets and electric generators."
Ukrainian crowdfunding foundations supply frontline units with FPV and attack drones, filling gaps left by state and allied provisioning. The Sternenko Foundation mobilizes civilian donations to procure, update, and deliver drones within days or weeks, enabling rapid adaptation to battlefield needs. Small individual donations, often under ten dollars, aggregate into thousands of drones and other materiel such as trucks, drone nets, tourniquets, and generators. Donor motivations include memorials and local losses, while safety concerns prompt anonymity. Volunteer logistics provide elite units with high-tempo resupply that pilots say can mean the difference between life and death.
Read at www.businessinsider.com
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