Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has backed a fundraising campaign to help Ukraine build a naval drone fleet to protect cities from Russian missiles fired from warships in the Black Sea. United24, an initiative launched by Zelenskyy to raise charitable donations after the Russian invasion in February, said Ukraine needs 100 sea-operated drones, each costing 10 million national currencies (about $274,000). The fundraising website said that since the start of the invasion, Russia has fired more than 4,500 missiles into Ukraine and “one in five hits came from the sea.” “We must defend the waters of our seas and peaceful cities from Russian missiles launched from ships,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Friday. “Naval drones will also help unblock the corridor for civilian ships carrying grain for the world,” he said. Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has launched missile attacks from ships in the Black Sea and from Crimea, the peninsula Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014 and home to the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet . Russia has also used aerial drones, including Iranian-made so-called “kamikaze” models, to attack Kyiv and key infrastructure across the country. (Al Jazeera) Russia began blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea ports soon after the February invasion, including blocking vital international grain exports. Three Ukrainian ports were unblocked as part of a deal brokered with Russia in July by the United Nations and Turkey to help ease a global food crisis. Russia later suspended its participation in the grain deal after what it said was a Ukrainian attack on three of its Black Sea fleet vessels late last month by a combined air and naval drone force. Moscow later reneged on the deal, which expires next week. “I am confident that millions of people will support this important sector of Ukraine’s defense,” Zelensky wrote of the naval drone fundraising campaign. “Everyone has already seen how it works,” he said. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the Russian fleet’s air and sea drone strike in October, which a statement published on the United24 website said was the first such strike in the months-long conflict carried out entirely by drones. Appliances. “Russia has lost its once indisputable water advantage,” the statement told United24. In July, Zelenskyy launched an “Army of Drone” appeal for private cash to buy a fleet of military-grade aircraft from countries around the world for use in the war against Russia.
