Drones for defenders
The Ukrainian Freedom Fund is partnered with a team of Ukrainian-American fundraisers and Victory Drones, an organization headquartered in Ukraine and led by Ms. Maria Berlinska. Maria participated in the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv and subsequently volunteered on the front lines in Eastern Ukraine as a drone operator. Since Russia’s full scale invasion, Maria has opened a drone training center where Ukrainian defenders and first responders can complete a course in the proper use of drones and then receive the equipment for use in a humanitarian capacity. The UFF is proud to work with such an outstanding group of individuals, and we’ve dedicated our drone campaign to supporting the acquisition of humanitarian-use drones as charitable aid for the graduates of Victory Drones’ training program.
This training includes three sections: drone theory, practical application, and the provisioning of equipment. Trainees learn everything from operator safety to identifying threats and programming the software to maximize automation. Through this partnership, the UFF is acquiring the DJI Mavic 3, Autel EVO II 640T, DJI Matrice 300 RTK, and the DJI Matrice 30T.
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These drones are amongst the most requested systems by Ukraine’s first responders and defenders. They are well suited for humanitarian missions such as civilian evacuation, assessing risk, emergency route clearing, search and rescue, and damage surveys.
Prior to this partnership, the UFF procured several fixed-wing drones manufactured in Ukraine and over 100 quadcopters manufactured internationally. These humanitarian systems are proving vital to reducing civilian casualties amidst Russia’s ongoing aggression.
UFF seeks to outfit Ukrainians with these complimentary long- and short-range systems to save lives through timely situational awareness and a reduced decision-making cycle. Rather than providing them directly to military or government bureaucracies, UFF utilizes its team in Ukraine along with the Victory Drones network to provide these systems directly to those in need.
UFF attempts to satisfy specific needs where efforts of other charities are absent or insufficient. UFF will nominate additional projects in the future. All fundraising overflows past our targets will be allocated to new projects.
© UKRAINIAN FREEDOM FUND 2014-2022