The football club ‘Ruh’ and its founder Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy together with the Norwegian charity fund ‘Fritt Ukraina’ helped the 45th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by purchasing 30 DJI Mavic 3 Cine drones.

Aslak Sverdrup, the president of the Norwegian football club ‘Brann’, also joined the initiative. The business ombudsman of the Lviv City Council, Serhiy Kiral, arranged the cooperation between the Norwegian charitable foundation and the ‘Ruh’ football club.

Peter FROLICH, ahead of the ‘Fritt Ukraina’ charitable foundation, a Norwegian parliamentarian: ‘I am glad to be here, to support Ukraine and its armed forces. This is our common battle, and we will win together. My charitable foundation has prepared 12,000 pieces of clothing and shoes for Heroes, who are currently at the front. We brought 250 drones to Ukraine and are ready to continue doing so. We will also provide vehicles to the Ukrainian military. I hope that this batch of drones will help liberate Ukrainian lands in the fight against russian aggressors. It all started with close cooperation with my good friend Serhiy Kiral from Lviv, thanks to him we managed to deliver our aid to Ukraine. I believe that it will be useful. During the Second World War, Norway was occupied, so we know everything about fascism and Nazism, which back then came to our territory. So, when something like this happened to Ukraine, we responded immediately and will support you as much as needed. ‘

The logistics and delivery of drones from Norway were provided by the local initiative of the NGO ‘People’s Self-Defense of Lviv Region’. The copters were personally handed over by the Norwegian parliamentarian, the head of the ‘Fritt Ukraina’ charity fund, Peter Frolich, and the general director of ‘Ruh’ Ihor Dedyshyn.

Ihor DEDYSHYN, a general director of the ‘Ruh’ football club: ‘The war consolidated the Ukrainian society very much. And the most important factor in our future victory will be a consolidation of the whole world in the fight against the aggressor. If we are united, I am sure that this victory will come to our street as soon as possible. Due to the fact that the Chinese authorities have reduced the supply of drones to the territory of our allies, not to mention Ukraine, our enterprising team has concentrated its efforts. Our guys know where to go and how to get the help they need. That’s why we all got involved in this process together. It is very gratifying that it was possible to obtain such a large batch in such difficult conditions. It is precisely these drones that are urgently needed. It is gratifying that we were able to make such a gift worth its weight in gold. Thanks to the entire civilised world, with joint efforts, and a united position, we are heading further towards our Victory.”

‘Mavic’ is an ultra-compact quadcopter, which is not inferior in terms of characteristics to its older brothers. It is easy to manage, while it includes a large quantity of high technology.

In the modern russian-Ukrainian war, these are the main ‘eyes’ of our military. They allow you to see the enemy, their position and their planning very clearly. So, it is simply an integral thing both during assaults and during reconnaissance, which allows you to destroy the enemy without approaching them.

Markiyan LOPACHAK, a junior lieutenant of the 45th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “This is a very cool initiative, in fact, many factors played a role. There are a large number of ‘Mavics’, they are now absolutely necessary, because we feel a certain difficulty with the purchase of drones abroad. Serhiy Kiral submitted the idea, Hryhoriy Kozlovskyy and Igor Dedyshyn immediately responded, the Norwegians offered to do something together, so together they purchased this batch of drones. It was difficult to deliver all this to Ukraine, the ‘People’s Self-Defense’ helped in this, directly Artem Khmyz. And, in fact, thanks to these joint efforts, we have 30 good ‘Mavics’, I think that on Tuesday-Wednesday these ‘birds’ will already start working at the front and protecting our country after certain adjustments. These ‘Mavics’ have a slightly better camera, due to this it is easier to look around because a clearer picture allows us to directly hit the enemy. The situation at the front is changing, in particular, in the area where we have been working lately, there were periods when we lost more than 20 Mavics in a month, and there were months when we lost less. This is influenced by many factors: how the enemy works, what the weather is, and the intensity of the fire. But if ‘Mavic’ managed to record and adjust, then we believe that this is an even loss – even if this ‘bird’ saves one life, it has already done its job.”