(Writes out ‘million’ in full in headline; no changes to text of story)
PRAGUE, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Czechs have collected more than $6 million in just five days in a grassroots fundraising effort to buy generators, heaters and batteries for Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands are freezing in subzero temperatures after Russian attacks on power plants.
Ukrainian engineers have been working around the clock in hazardous conditions for weeks since Russia escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s grid during a cold snap that has seen temperatures plunge to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 F).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared an energy emergency after the Russian strikes.
The European Commission said on Friday it would send 447 emergency generators worth 3.7 million euros ($4.39 million).
The darekproputina.cz initiative has been collecting donations for Ukraine since Russia’s full invasion in 2022, including campaigns to buy a Blackhawk helicopter and a tank as well as drones, ammunition and medical supplies worth more than 55 million euros.
Its latest effort raised 126 million crowns ($6.16 million) from 74,745 donors from last Wednesday until Monday morning, and another roughly 15 million crowns is on the way from donors, organiser Martin Ondracek told Reuters.
“Over the weekend we booked two generators – the diesel-fuelled boxes that come on a truck – for 8 million crowns each that should go to two smaller health facilities,” Ondracek said.
The initiative cooperated with three funds in Ukraine to avoid lengthy logistical and customs delays but is also in talks with Czech suppliers as not everything is available on the spot, he added.
“There are about 30 people working on this, we need to spend the money as fast as possible,” Ondracek said, adding there was a particular demand for chemical heaters and batteries.
“Batteries are key for people to charge when power is available so they have at least some power for a kettle or charging phones.”
($1 = 20.4710 Czech crowns)
($1 = 0.8429 euros)
(Reporting by Jan LopatkaEditing by Gareth Jones)
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