Czech Crowdfunding Raises $1.3 Million To Give Ukraine A New Tank

The significance of the act has less to do with the tank itself - Ukraine has captured a couple of dozen usable Russian tanks in the last month - but in the ongoing support from citizens from former Russian subjects in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Estonia, Slovakia and now the Czech Republic. 

These people know what it is like to live under Russian rule so their active contributions to Ukrainian defense underscores their understanding of the stakes in this war. JL 

US News and World Report reports:

Czechs have become the first citizens of a country to raise money through crowd-funding to buy a modernised Soviet-era T-72 tank that will soon be sent to the Ukrainian army. The crowdfunding effort, run by the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, raised 33 million crowns ($1.31 million) as of Monday from 11,288 donors. The tank, a T-72 AVENGER, has been modernised to improve its protective systems and to add modern night-vision and communications equipment. Fundraising is continuing to provide ammunition.

Czechs have become the first citizens of a country to raise money through crowd-funding to buy a modernised Soviet-era T-72 tank that will soon be sent to the Ukrainian army to help it defend against Russia's invasion, a Ukrainian government official said on Monday.

The crowdfunding effort, run by the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, raised 33 million crowns ($1.31 million) as of Monday from 11,288 donors, the campaign website said.

"The Czech Republic became the first country where ordinary people bought a tank," Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis said on Twitter.

The tank, a T-72 AVENGER, has been modernised to improve its protective systems and to add modern night-vision and communications equipment.

Fundraising is continuing to provide ammunition, the campaign said on its website .

The Czech Republic, a NATO and European Union member, has been a strong backer of Ukraine.

It has shipped surplus army stocks as well as privately sourced equipment funded by other countries and the Ukrainian government to Ukraine. Those include older tanks, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and air-defence systems to Ukraine.

The Ukraine embassy said that by late September, Czechs had donated 1.3 billion crowns ($51.72 million) to its weapons-purchase fundraising efforts coordinated with the Czech Defence Ministry.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged supporting countries to provide modern western battle tanks -- which donor nations have shied away from -- to help its offensive against Russian-controlled regions in the country's south and east.

($1 = 25.1360 Czech crowns)