Head of Entertainment, HuffPost UK
The Ukrainian winners of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest have sold their trophy to raise money to buy drones for their country’s military.
Kalush Orchestra auctioned off the crystal microphone trophy they were presented with after winning this year’s competition for $900,000 (£712,000).
The band raised a further $370,000 (£293,000) by raffling off the pink bucket hat frontman Oleh Psiuk wore during the performance.
Sunday’s auction was hosted by Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula and the money is going to his charitable fund, which raises funds for the Ukrainian army in their battle against invading Russian forces.
The presenter announced that the money raised from the sale of the trophy would be used to purchase three Ukrainian-made PD-2 drones.
#StefaniaForUkraine results: 1.2 m $ in total 📌11 m₴ for the hat raffle. 31 088 people from 56 countries. The hat goes to Volodymyr from Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic. The biggest donation in traditional money: 64 800₴ 📌900k $ (500ETH) - thank you @WhiteBit for the bid💪 pic.twitter.com/Qxct7C0c7r
Drones are used heavily by Ukrainian and Russian forces, both as weapons and reconnaissance aircraft.
The auction coincided with the band’s appearance at a charity concert at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
Speaking at the gig, band member Oleh Psiuk appealed for people not to get used to the war, which has left at least 4,031 civilians dead and 4,735 injured, according to the UN, along with an unknown number of military personnel.
It has also forced more than 14 million people to flee their homes since Russia invaded on 24 February, with towns and cities reduced to rubble.
“I think it should be on the front pages always, until peace comes,” said Psiuk.
Kalush Orchestra, who were fighting as part of the Ukrainian resistance only weeks before Eurovision, received support from across Europe for their performance.
They beat Britain’s Sam Ryder into second place, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky going on to claim the country would host the contest in Mariupol next year.
Head of Entertainment, HuffPost UK