According to the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, the “Gift for Putin” campaign has raised millions of dollars for the wider weapons-purchase program. Donors can specify what they put their money towards – whether tanks, ammunition, or drones.

The guarantor of the project is the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic.

How ‘Gift for Putin’ came about

After the full-scale invasion of Russia, the Ukrainian embassy in the Czech Republic created a special account for donations for the purchase of weapons for the Armed Forces. At the beginning of April, after seeing footage of the crimes committed by the Russian occupiers in Buch, one of the richest Czech businessmen, Ivo Lukačovych, donated 100 million Czech crowns.

Another Czech businessman, Dalibor Dedek, co-owner of Jablotron, contributed the second largest amount – 50 million crowns. A total of 977 million crowns from 115,000 donors were transferred to the embassy’s special account.

When donations began to decrease, Dedek called one of the promoters of the campaign, Martin Ondracek. ‘He knew that I was working on an initiative to support the elderly in the Czech Republic, and offered to invent something to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine,’ recalls Ondracek.

The idea of ​​a virtual online store ‘A gift for Putin’ came to Ondracek’s mind. ‘I was angry and wanted to call it ‘Bullet for Putin’ at first. But I consulted with friends from the field of marketing, and we decided that there should be an element of humor,’ recalls Martin.

How the virtual store works

1. A person chooses a product that he wants to “buy”. Virtual javelins, rifle cartridges, combat first aid kits are in the highest demand, Ondracek says.
2. You can donate any amount.
3. Obviously, the buyer does not receive the selected product. But after donating at least 1,968 crowns, the volunteers offer a T-shirt with the illustrative inscription “Fuck You Putin” as a bonus.

All collected funds go directly to the account of the Ukrainian embassy and are used under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic to purchase equipment for the Ukrainian army.