In a new report about how crypto donations were spent, the war-torn country also said that it bought non-lethal equipment.
Some of the $60 million in crypto donations that were given to Ukraine after Russia invaded the European country earlier this year were used to buy weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), digital rifle scopes, and other non-lethal tools, an official said in a new breakdown of spending.
Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted the breakdown on Wednesday. It showed that some of the $54 million raised through cryptocurrencies were used to buy lethal weapons and start an English news platform. There is still $6 million left to spend.
The drone and deadly weapon purchases are mentioned on Ukraine’s donation website, but the numbers shown are different from Fedorov’s calculations.
“We (the Digital Ministry) turned crypto into a different form and sent it to our Defense Ministry. They thought they needed something (lethal weapons). When asked about the earlier statement that they would only buy non-lethal weapons with crypto donations, Bornyakov said, “We are at war, and we can defend ourselves in any way we can.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, which caused the country to start multiple crypto-based donation drives to build up its defenses and equipment in a way that had never been done before.
The breakdown also confirmed what government officials had already reported using cryptocurrency donations to buy drones, medical kits for soldiers, and thermal imagers.
Bornyakov told CoinDesk that the “weapons requested by the Ministry of Defense” that cost more than $5 million were “lethal weapons.”
Bornyakov told CoinDesk that the Ministry hasn’t said what kinds of lethal weapons were bought with crypto because fighting is still ongoing.
Bornyakov said, “We don’t want to tell Russia what deadly weapons we’re buying.”
It’s a big change from how Ukraine first explained how it spent its money. At first, officials said that the crypto funds were only used to buy non-lethal equipment.
CEO of a Ukrainian startup called Hacken, Dyma Budorin, said that using crypto to buy weapons that can kill is “sensitive.” Hacken protects crypto exchanges online and has a group of “hacktivists” who attack Russian organizations.
Budorin said, “If the fund is using crypto to buy deadly weapons, it should be clear from day one because this is a very sensitive matter, and people should know it.”
Patreon is a subscription platform for artists and creatives. The Ukrainian non-profit “Come Back Alive” was removed from the platform because it used donations to pay for and train military personnel. This was against the platform’s rules, which say that it can’t be used to pay for weapons or military activity.
Minister Mykhailo Fedorov also released the breakdown. This was part of an early promise by the Ministry to be more open and gain the trust of donors.
Out of the $60 million that the Crypto donations of Ukraine has raised so far, $54 million has been spent, and the rest of the money is still being spent, Bornyakov said.
“We’re not going to write down everything we bought, but here’s a start. We still keep buying night vision glasses and bulletproof vests. But we have started spending more money to fight the lies. Something new. In a recent interview with CoinDesk, Bornyakov said, “We have also started spending money on new Ukrainian media, such as United24, which is an English news platform.”
Top expense: UAVs
Ukraine spent $11,887,936 to buy 213 UAVs. This made drones the most expensive thing people bought.
In the next four categories, about $7 million was spent on 8,460 armored vests, $5.7 million was spent on five computer hardware and software packages, $5 million was spent on a worldwide media campaign against war, and another $5 million was spent on weapons requested by the Ministry of Defense, but the exact number is unknown.
Buying in bulk With Crypto donations
Field rations are the category with the most number of items. Crypto donations helped the country buy a total of 416,900 field rations.
Bornyakov has also said in the past that the crypto fund is being used to buy non-lethal military equipment like bulletproof vests, night vision goggles, military-grade food rations, and medical equipment like tourniquets that help stop bleeding.
Medical costs were the other big one in terms of amount. There have been purchases of 105,831 medicines and 31,065 military medical kits.
Ukraine also bought nearly 80,000 pieces of military clothing and equipment (79,369). This doesn’t include 8,460 armor vests or 5,061 digital rifle scopes.
