Kalush Orchestra, this year’s Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest winner, have sold their trophy on Sunday for $900,000 with the aim of buying drones for their country’s military, the band announced on Sunday.
The trophy, a crystal microphone, was auctioned in a raffle on Facebook. Bids were accepted both in cryptocurrencies, as well as in traditional currency, the band said on Instagram. The winning bidder was WhiteBit, a cryptocurrency exchange platform which bid 500 ethereum.
The funds raised will fund a drone system for the Ukrainian armed forces, which includes three aircraft and a ground control station, which provides facilities for the pilot to control drones, Reuters reported.
The sale coincided with a charity concert in Berlin where Kalush Orchestra performed on Sunday evening.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared in a video message in the evening, and said that financial help was being provided to avert the “collapse” of Ukraine’s economy.
In recent weeks, the German chancellor was under fire at home and abroad for his hesitant stance in sending more heavy weapons to Ukraine. Pressure has been growing further in recent days as the Ukrainian army has struggled to contain a Russian offensive in Donbas.
This comes as hundreds of Lithuanians raised more than €5 million over the weekend to buy an advanced military drone from a Turkish company Baykar.
