"Our Bayraktar for Ukraine has been manufactured. It's wrapped and ready for delivery," Polish activist and journalist Sławomir Sierakowski wrote in a Facebook post on Monday (October 17). Sierakowski is the initiator of a crowdfunding campaign to purchase a Bayraktar drone for the Ukrainian Army. He also said the drone would be named "Marik". "That's what the Ukrainians call Mariupol, to which they intend to return once it's been recaptured," he explained.
Polish fundraiser to buy a Bayraktar drone for the Ukrainian Army - initiated by Sławomir Sierakowski in late June - reached its goal on Monday (July 25), when the required sum of 22.5 million zlotys was collected. "Our servers went down five times today, we've received a ton of messages that more people wanted to join the fundraiser," Sierakowski told TVN24 at the time.
To support the cause, the Turkish drone producer Baykar promised to donate the drone free of charge and the spend the money collected in the fundraiser in full on humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
In early September, Sierakowski informed the raised surplus of 2.3 million zlotys had been paid into a fund in support of Ukrainian Armed Forces.
On Monday (October 17), the fundraiser initiator informed on social media that Polish Bayraktar for Ukraine had been manufactured. "It's wrapped and ready for delivery," he wrote. "Now the paperwork is being handled by the Baykar company and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine," Sierakowski wrote.
"We're responsible for transport, which we need sort out by ourselves. In the case of the Lithuanian fundraiser, there were no problems as the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence handled the transport," he added.
Sławomir Sierakowski also announced the drone had already received a name. "I was about it many times. There were suggestions to hold a competition or grant the right to choose a name to the biggest donor. I thought we could use the name to support Ukraine once more. So I asked (with the help of the precious Natalia Panchenko) refugees from Mariupol, whose siege we watched in distress, to send proposals. During the fundraiser we would mentioned many times we wanted to avenge the massacre of the city, which defended itself so heroically, and was razed to the ground like none other," he wrote.
"Our Bayraktar will be named 'Marik'! That's what the Ukrainians call Mariupol, which they intend to return to once it's been recaptured," Sierakowski said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvn24.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: facebook.com/SlawomirSierakowski1979