A video is causing a stir on the Internet, with which Ukrainian pilots are apparently collecting donations – for fighter jets. With the “buy me a fighter jet” campaign, they want to appeal to wealthy supporters.
Barely seven weeks into Russia’s war of aggression, Ukrainian pilots have apparently launched a campaign to buy fighter jets for their air force. “Buy me a fighter jet,” says a video that Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. In the film, a man wearing sunglasses and dressed as a pilot stands in front of the wreckage of downed Ukrainian fighter jets. He needs a fighter jet to destroy tanks and war criminals, he says.
The associated website lists countries with existing Soviet-style aircraft, primarily from the former Eastern bloc, from which jets could be bought. The pilots are also ready to learn how to fly Western-type fighter jets, from the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen to the US F-35, the video says.
How authentic the site is cannot be confirmed at this time. It has been registered in Ukraine, technically the Ukrainian web designer Trofimchuk Andrej Pavlovich is responsible for it. However, it is unclear who is behind the campaign. Only an e-mail address is given as a contact.
Ukraine repeatedly and emphatically demands the delivery of arms and military technology from abroad in order to be able to continue to defend itself against Russian attackers. At the beginning of April, US actor Sean Penn asked millionaires to buy planes for Ukraine.
