Yale professor beats the drum for "Safe Skies"
Russia has been massively attacking Ukraine's civilian infrastructure again for weeks. In response, historian Snyder founded the "Safe Skies" protection program. Within a very short space of time, he reaches his ambitious fundraising target. And he has even more plans.
The renowned historian of Eastern Europe Timothy Snyder has raised almost one million US dollars in just a few weeks for "Safe Skies", a protection system against Russian cruise missiles and drones. "I can announce that we have reached the goal of 950,000 dollars and that the drone detection system is now being extended to the Sumy, Odessa, Mikolayiv and Kherson regions. This happened quickly - within six weeks," writes the Yale professor.
Just like last winter, Russia is once again trying to destroy Ukraine's critical infrastructure, leaving the Ukrainian civilian population without electricity and water. "Russia is also using drones and cruise missiles to target Ukrainian grain destined for export to Africa and the Middle East," said Snyder.
The Russians already massively attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure last winter. Millions of Ukrainians had to endure freezing temperatures without electricity or heating. Even now, Ukrainian towns and villages are being attacked with drones and cruise missiles almost every night. According to the Ukrainian air force, there were 35 attacks by Russian drones this night alone. Ukraine was able to fend off 34 of them. Kiev accuses Moscow of using them to terrorize the civilian population. Since last year, Ukraine has strengthened its air defenses with the help of its Western allies and is therefore able to intercept most drones and missiles from Russia.
Snyder calls for a new goal
Snyder is also calling for further donations: "I think we should do this again. With another 950,000 dollars, we could protect four more regions - Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava and Cherkassy - from drones and cruise missiles." Around six million people live here. "We can help to keep them safe".
This is already the second major fundraising campaign by the historian, who has written several books about Ukraine and also visited the country during the war. Last winter, Snyder collected donations for a passive drone detection system for Kiev and other areas.
When Russia began attacking cities in other regions this fall, Snyder founded the "Safe Skies" initiative, which he says is very effective: "The system works. I've seen it myself. It recognizes every single target and allows the Ukrainians to shoot most of them down." The donations are used to support purely defensive tasks. "It simply locates flying weapons in Ukrainian airspace. That saves lives. And it prevents suffering."
Snyder's initiative is supported by other renowned professors: Francis Fukuyama from Stanford University, Rory Finnin from Cambridge, Timothy Garton Ash from Oxford and Serhii Plokhy from Harvard.
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The USA and other Western allies have been providing aid to Ukraine to strengthen its air defenses, enabling it to intercept most drones and missiles from Russia during their nightly attacks on civilian infrastructure. The ongoing attacks by Russia on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure and grain destined for export, are being labeled as war crimes by historians and international bodies.
Amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Snyder, the Yale professor, is not only calling for more donations to protect additional regions with his "Safe Skies" initiative but also advocating for the international community to acknowledge and condemn Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.
Source: www.ntv.de
