MESEBERG, Germany — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday said China had declared it won’t supply Russia with weapons for its war against Ukraine, suggesting that Berlin has received bilateral assurances from Beijing on the issue.
Scholz was speaking at a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who told reporters that the EU has received “no evidence” so far from the U.S. that Beijing is considering supplying lethal support to Moscow.
Senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken have expressed deep concern in recent weeks that China could provide weapons such as kamikaze drones to Russia, which in turn triggered warnings to Beijing from EU politicians. Scholz himself urged Beijing last week to refrain from such actions and instead use its influence to convince Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Yet speaking at Sunday’s press conference, which was held at the German government retreat in Meseberg north of Berlin, Scholz claimed that China had provided assurances that it would not send weapons to Russia.
“We all agree that there should be no arms deliveries, and the Chinese government has declared that it will not deliver any either,” the chancellor said in response to a question by POLITICO. “We insist on this and we are monitoring it,” he added.
Scholz’s comments came as a surprise because China has not publicly rejected the possibility of weapons deliveries to Russia. The chancellor appeared to suggest that Beijing had issued such reassurances directly to Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell received similar private assurances last month. Borrell told reporters that China’s top diplomat Wang Yi had told him in a private discussion at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February that China “will not provide arms to Russia.”
“Nevertheless, we have to remain vigilant,” Borrell said.
Von der Leyen, who attended the first day of a two-day German government retreat in Meseberg, told reporters that the EU still had not seen any proof that China is considering sending arms to Russia.
“So far, we have no evidence of this, but we have to observe it every day,” the Commission president said. She did not reply to the question on whether the EU would support sanctions against China should there be such weapon deliveries, saying that was a “hypothetical question” she would not answer.
Stuart Lau contributed reporting.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
A Russian attack with Iranian-made combat drones early this Monday left two dead and three injured in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitsky (west), reported its mayor.
Oleksandr Symchyshyn said in separate Telegram messages that two first responders died in hospital after the attack by more than a dozen drones.
Ukrainian forces reported shooting down eleven of the 14 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, in response to the Russian attack with unmanned aircraft (UAV) with explosives.
(Also: The concerns that the suspension of the nuclear agreement between Russia and the US leaves.)
“Unfortunately, we have another death in the hospital. The doctors failed to save the life of another hero, a rescuer,” he said in the second message, after reporting a first death shortly before.
Ukrainian armed forces claimed to have shot down 11 of the 14 drones “Shaded” deployed by Russia overnight.
Nine of them were shot down over the capital kyiv, according to the head of the city’s military administration, with no damage or casualties reported.
(Also: Russia responds to China’s proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine)
Russia has been launching missile and drone attacks for months against critical infrastructure in Ukraine, prompting Kiev to bolster its air defense systems with Western help.
The attacks have left millions of people without electricity in the dead of winter.
Russian attacks have been reported in at least eleven Ukrainian regions in the last 24 hours.
Attacks on eleven Ukrainian regions in the last 24 hours
In addition to the Iranian-made suicide drone attack, Russian troops attacked eleven regions of Ukraine in the last 24 hours, according to data from the regional military administrations.
According to the 09:00 am (07.GMT) report on the situation in the regions, two people were killed in the attacks last night counting the city of Khmelnitsky.
In the Chernihiv region, there were two bombardments in the last 24 hours that left no victims, although they did damage.
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According to the “North” operational command, the anti-aircraft defense shot down three drones over Chernihiv.
In the Sumy region, Russian troops attacked the Krasnopilska community with mortar fire last night, and during Sunday afternoon they shelled the communities of Bilopilska, Hlujivska, Novoslobodska and Khotynska, where 76 mortar and artillery hits were recorded and reported an injured person.
The Russian offensive intensifies as Ukraine calls for faster aid shipments from the West.
Photo:
EFE/EPA/GEORGE IVANCHENKO
In several of these regions, no loss of life was reported. However, several of the attacks have claimed several lives and injured dozens.
A 73-year-old man was slightly injured in an attack on the city of Vochansk. In the Luhansk region, Russian troops carried out “unsuccessful offensives” in wooded areas in the Kupansk and Lyman directions.
In the Donetsk region, the Russian army launched two missile attacks on Myrnohrad at night and in the morning there was a massive shelling on Avdiivka. A woman was injured in the city of Hirnyk.
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“There are no significant changes in the situation along the front line. Vuhledar, Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut are under constant hostile fire,” the report underlines.
In the Kherson region, the Russian troops shelled several cities with artillery. One person died and two others were injured in this region in the last 24 hours; in addition, 87 people, including 15 children, were evacuated from the liberated territories.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING With information from AFP and EFE TIME
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )
“We haven’t seen them provide lethal aid to Russia yet but we also have noticed that they haven’t taken it off the table,” Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Friday.
If China sends Russia weapons, it could alter the fighting on the ground, tipping the fight in favor of Moscow — a reality the U.S. and its European allies have worked to avoid with hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons shipments.
The news comes after U.S. officials in recent days downgraded the classification level of intelligence on China’s thinking to share it with allies across the world, in an attempt to pressure Beijing to back off any plans to send weapons to Russia. Since then, officials inside the Biden administration have debated releasing that intelligence to the public, a third person familiar with the matter said. All of the individuals were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive national security matters.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the details of China weighing sending drones and ammunition.
The U.S. has previously warned China about sending lethal aid to Russia. In a meeting with China’s top diplomat at the Munich Security Conference, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Wang Yi that such a move would severely impair the diplomatic relationship between Washington and Beijing. Washington has sent other warnings in diplomatic conversations over the last several weeks, as POLITICO previously reported.
The National Security Council declined to comment on the record for this story.
“We have said publicly and privately that there have been indications that the Chinese were considering the potential lethal assistance but we’ve also said that we haven’t seen them make that decision or move in that direction,” John Kirby, spokesperson for the NSC said in a briefing with reporters Friday. “And we certainly don’t want them to.”
U.S. officials have for months tracked China’s shipment of non-lethal, dual-use items to Russia, Blinken said in a conversation with The Atlantic last week. He did not provide details of those shipments. Dual-use items could range from anything from laptops and telecommunications equipment to aircraft parts typically used for civilian purposes.
“There has been some … dual-use type support coming from quote-unquote Chinese companies, that almost certainly was approved by the state,” Blinken said.
The U.S. earlier this month sanctioned a slew of Chinese companies for supporting Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, including a satellite company, Spacety, that the administration says provided imagery to Moscow for use by the Wagner Group.
Alex Ward and Lara Seligman contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautiously welcomed Beijing’s efforts toward ending the war in Ukraine and said he would like to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss China’s proposals.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv Friday to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, Zelenskyy said he was open to considering some aspects of the 12-point “position paper” published by the Chinese foreign ministry. Both NATO and the EU have criticized the initiative, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying that “China has taken sides” in the Ukraine conflict.
Beijing claims to have a neutral stance in the war but also has said it has a “no limits” relationship with Moscow and has refused to criticize President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said a meeting with Xi could be “useful” to both countries and for global security. “As far as I know, China respects historical integrity,” he told reporters in Kyiv.
“I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,” Zelenskyy said, according to the Associated Press. “But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called the Chinese proposals “unrealistic” in a tweet on Saturday.
Zelenskyy also warned Beijing against providing Russia with weapons, something of increasing concern to Western governments. China is considering providing drones and ammunition to help Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO on Friday.
“I very much want to believe that China will not deliver weapons to Russia, and for me this is very important,” Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said the alliance is closely monitoring China’s activities, adding that Beijing sending lethal aid to Moscow would be a “very big mistake.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday welcomed Beijing’s initiative on the conflict in Ukraine and said he will visit China in early April and seek Chinese help in ending the war. “The fact that China is engaging in peace efforts is a good thing,” Macron said, according to French media reports.
The French leader also asked Beijing “not to supply any arms to Russia.” And he sought Beijing’s aid to “exert pressure on Russia to ensure it never uses chemical or nuclear weapons and it stops this aggression prior to negotiations,” according to the reports.
Meanwhile, Beijing announced on Saturday that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will visit China on a state visit from February 28 to March 2. The Belarusian foreign ministry confirmed the planned visit.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, has backed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and allowed its territory to be used in the Russian assault. Lukashenko said last week that his country was prepared to join Russia’s war against Ukraine, if attacked.
Zelenskyy also said that any proposal to end the war would be acceptable only if it led to Putin pulling his troops out of all occupied Ukrainian territory.
Amid growing concerns in the West about Ukraine’s ability to recover all its territory, NATO’s biggest European members — Germany, France and the U.K. — are putting forward a defense pact with Ukraine as a way to encourage Kyiv toward peace talks with Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials from the three governments.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Zelensky at a meeting earlier this month in Paris that Kyiv needed to start considering peace talks with Moscow, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the conversation.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
KYIV — As the distant howl of air raid sirens echoes around them, a dozen Ukrainian soldiers clamber out of camouflaged tents perched on a hill off a road just outside Kyiv, hidden from view by a thick clump of trees. The soldiers, pupils of a drone academy, gather around a white Starlink antenna, puffing at cigarettes and doomscrolling on their phones — taking a break between classes, much like students around the world do.
But this isn’t your average university.
The soldiers have come here to study air reconnaissance techniques and to learn how to use drones — most of them commercial ones — in a war zone. Their training, as well as the supply chains that facilitate the delivery of drones to Ukraine, are kept on the down low. The Ukrainians need to keep their methods secret not only from the Russian invaders, but also from the tech firms that manufacture the drones and provide the high-speed satellite internet they rely on, who have chafed at their machines being used for lethal purposes.
Drones are essential for the Ukrainians: The flying machines piloted from afar can spot the invaders approaching, reduce the need for soldiers to get behind enemy lines to gather intelligence, and allow for more precise strikes, keeping civilian casualties down. In places like Bakhmut, a key Donetsk battleground, the two sides engage in aerial skirmishes; flocks of drones buzz ominously overhead, spying, tracking, directing artillery.
So, to keep their flying machines in the air, the Ukrainians have adapted, adjusting their software, diversifying their supply chains, utilizing the more readily available commercial drones on the battlefield and learning to work around the limitations and bans foreign corporations have imposed or threatened to impose.
Enter: The Dronarium Academy.
Private drone schools and nongovernmental organizations around Ukraine are training thousands of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots for the army. Dronarium, which before Russia’s invasion last year used to shoot glossy commercial drone footage and gonzo political protests, now provides five-day training sessions to soldiers in the Kyiv Oblast. In the past year, around 4,500 pilots, most of them now in the Ukrainian armed forces, have taken Dronarium’s course.
What’s on the curriculum
On the hill outside Kyiv, behind the thicket of trees, break time’s over and school’s back in session. After the air raid siren stops,some soldiers grab their flying machines and head to a nearby field; others return to their tents to study theory.
A key lesson: How to make civilian drones go the distance on the battlefield.
“In the five days we spend teaching them how to fly drones, one and a half days are spent on training for the flight itself,” a Dronarium instructor who declined to give his name over security concerns but uses the call sign “Prometheus” told POLITICO. “Everything else is movement tactics, camouflage, preparatory process, studying maps.”
Drone reconnaissance teams work in pairs, like snipers, Prometheus said. One soldier flies a drone using a keypad; their colleague looks at the map, comparing it with the video stream from the drone and calculating coordinates. The drone teams “work directly with artillery,” Prometheus continued. “We transfer the picture from the battlefield to the servers and to the General Staff. Thanks to us, they see what they are doing and it helps them hit the target.”
Private drone schools and nongovernmental organizations around Ukraine are training thousands of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots for the army | John Moore/Getty Images
Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many of these drone school students were civilians. One, who used to be a blogger and videogame streamer but is now an intelligence pilot in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas, goes by the call sign “Public.” When he’s on the front line, he must fly his commercial drones in any weather — it’s the only way to spot enemy tanks moving toward his unit’s position.
“Without them,” Public said, “it is almost impossible to notice the equipment, firing positions and personnel in advance. Without them, it becomes very difficult to coordinate during attack or defense. One drone can sometimes save dozens of lives in one flight.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher: “If you don’t fly, these tanks will kill your comrades. So, you fly. The drone freezes, falls and you pick up the next one. Because the lives of those targeted by a tank are more expensive than any drone.”
Army of drones
The war has made the Bayraktar military drone a household name, immortalized in song by the Ukrainians. Kyiv’s UAV pilots also use Shark, RQ-35 Heidrun, FLIRT Cetus and other military-grade machines.
“It is difficult to have an advantage over Russia in the number of manpower and weapons. Russia uses its soldiers as meat,” Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said earlier this month. But every Ukrainian life, he continued, “is important to us. Therefore, the only way is to create a technological advantage over the enemy.”
Until recently, the Ukrainian army didn’t officially recognize the position of drone operator. It was only in January that Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi ordered the army to create 60 companies made up of UAV pilots, indicating also that Kyiv planned to scale up its own production of drones. Currently, Ukrainian firms make only 10 percent of the drones the country needs for the war, according to military volunteer and founder of the Air Intelligence Support Center Maria Berlinska.
In the meantime, many of Ukraine’s drone pilots prefer civilian drones made by Chinese manufacturer DJI — Mavics and Matrices — which are small, relatively cheap at around €2,500 a pop, with decent zoom lenses and user-friendly operations.
Choosing between a military drone and a civilian one “depends on the goal of the pilot,” said Prometheus, the Dronarium instructor. “Larger drones with wings fly farther and can do reconnaissance far behind enemy lines. But at some point, you lose the connection with it and just have to wait until it comes back. Mavics have great zoom and can hang in the air for a long time, collecting data without much risk for the drone.”
But civilian machines, made for hobbyists not soldiers, last two, maybe three weeks in a war zone. And DJI last year said it would halt sales to both Kyiv and Moscow, making it difficult to replace the machines that are lost on the battlefield.
In response, Kyiv has loosened export controls for commercial drones, and is buying up as many as it can, often using funds donated by NGOs such as United24 “Army of Drones” initiative. Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry said that in the three months since the initiative launched, it has purchased 1,400 military and commercial drones and facilitated training for pilots, often via volunteers. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation said it has purchased more than 4,100 drones since Russia’s full-scale invasion began last year — most were DJI’s Mavic 3s, along with the company’s Martice 30s and Matrice 300s.
But should Ukraine be concerned about the fact many of its favorite drones are manufactured by a Chinese company, given Beijing’s “no limits” partnership with Moscow?
Choosing between a military drone and a civilian one “depends on the goal of the pilot,” said Prometheus, the Dronarium instructor | Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images
DJI, the largest drone-maker in the world, has publicly claimed it can’t obtain user data and flight information unless the user submits it to the company. But its alleged ties to the Chinese state, as well as the fact the U.S. has blacklisted its technology (over claims it was used to surveil ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang), have raised eyebrows. DJI has denied both allegations.
Asked if DJI’s China links worried him, Prometheus seemed unperturbed.
“We understand who we are dealing with — we use their technology in our interests,” he said. “Indeed, potentially our footage can be stored somewhere on Chinese servers. However, they store terabytes of footage from all over the world every day, so I doubt anyone could trace ours.”
Dealing with Elon
Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced it had moved to restrict the Ukrainian military’s use of its Starlink satellite internet service because it was using it to control drones. The U.S. space company has been providing internet to Ukraine since last February — losing access would be a big problem.
“It is not that our army goes blind if Starlink is off,” said Prometheus, the drone instructor. “However, we do need to have high-speed internet to correct artillery fire in real-time. Without it, we will have to waste more shells in times of ongoing shell shortages.”
But while the SpaceX announcement sparked outcry from some of Kyiv’s backers, as yet, Ukraine’s operations haven’t been affected by the move, Digital Transformation Minister Fedorov told POLITICO.
Prometheus had a theory as to why: “I think Starlink will stay with us. It is impossible to switch it off only for drones. If Musk completely turns it off, he will also have to turn it off for hospitals that use the same internet to order equipment and even perform online consultations during surgeries at the war front. Will he switch them off too?”
And if Starlink does go down, the Ukrainians will manage, Prometheus said with a wry smile: “We have our tools to fix things.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Bengaluru: Drone technology provider Garuda Aerospace has announced a partnership with Narayana Health for transporting bio-medical supplies using its ‘Sanjeevani drones.
The partnership aims to “revolutionize the delivery of critical and emergency medical supplies – including samples for diagnosis in times of high traffic and other challenging conditions”.
Garuda Aerospace, during the pandemic period, used its emergency drones to deliver medicines and vaccines to hospitals in partnership with Swiggy. The company’s White Knight drones delivered essential medicines and vaccinations to Bengaluru hospitals for ISRO in 2021, demonstrating their capability in providing timely and efficient medical delivery.
Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, of Garuda Aerospace, said, “Our aim is to improve access to critical medical supplies and support the delivery of high-quality healthcare to patients in need and in times of emergency. With this partnership, we are confident that we will be able to make a real difference in the lives of patients and communities across India. We are proud to be a part of this exciting journey.”
Devi Shetty, Chairman, and Executive Director, of Narayana Health, said, “…The use of drones to transport biomedical samples is a critical step in achieving that goal. By partnering with Garuda Aerospace, we are able to leverage their expertise to improve the delivery of medical supplies and enhance the quality of care we provide across.”
“In the first phase, drones will be deployed in Bengaluru to transfer biomedical samples from Narayana Health City and HSR Layout on a daily basis. In the next 1 year, our network of 21 hospitals will have these services,” he added.
Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Police on Monday issued prohibitory orders on all flying objects during the Aero India 2023 over security reasons in the city.
Flying of all sub-conventional aerial platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles, robotic process automation, para gliders, micro lights, small aircraft, drones, quad-helicopters, are prohibited against the backdrop of the event, an official release stated.
“I consider that it is absolutely necessary to ban the flying of all sub-conventional aerial platforms as these can carry explosives and be used as weapons or surveillance objects to threaten, damage, injure and kill people and destroy properties in the premises where event is hosted and in the limits of Bengaluru city,” Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy stated.
The prohibition will be in place between February 13 and 17.
Chennai: Drones from India’s Garuda Aerospace will be deployed in a rescue mission in the quake-hit Turkey by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said a top company official.
“Garuda Aerospace has always stepped up during crises and has created massive impact by deploying drones for various emergency situations. Given the current situation in Turkey, Garuda Aerospace is deploying drones to support the ongoing rescue and relief operations,” Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, said.
The NDRF had requested Garuda Aerospace to provide their Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA)-approved drones for disaster management operations.
The city based drone-as-a-service start-up Garuda Aerospace will deploy their Droni Drone for surveillance in the most affected areas to identify where victims could be trapped under rubble piles and a modified Kisan Drone which will carry payloads that will help transport emergency medicines, supplies and food for victims.
Earlier, Garuda Aerospace deployed drones for rescue and relief operations to the Chamoli glacier burst at Uttarakhand and supported the locust control operation in Rajasthan.
KYIV — Russia has launched extensive missile raids across Ukraine and is building up troops near the northeastern city of Kupyansk to test Ukrainian defenses, just as Kyiv is warning that Moscow is gearing up to launch a new offensive.
Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, commander in chief of Ukraine’s army, said in a statement that two Kalibr cruise missiles entered the airspace of Moldova and NATO member Romania, before veering into Ukrainian territory. Romania, however, cautioned that radar only detected a missile launched from a Russian ship in the Black Sea traveling close to its airspace — some 35 kilometers away — but not inside its territory.
“At approximately 10:33 a.m., these missiles crossed Romanian airspace. After that, they again entered the airspace of Ukraine at the crossing point of the borders of the three states. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea,” Zaluzhnyy said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added, “Several Russian missiles flew through the airspace of Moldova and Romania. Today’s missiles are a challenge to NATO, collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped. Stopped by the world.”
Governors in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Khmelnytskyi reported power cuts due to the barrage.
The attack started before dawn in the eastern region of Kharkiv, according to the governor, Oleg Synegubov.
“Today, at 4:00 a.m., about 12 rockets hit critical infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv and the region. Currently, emergency and stabilizing light shutdowns are being employed. About 150,000 people in Kharkiv remain without electricity,” Synegubov said.
Synegubov said the barrage came the same morning as Russian invasion forces increased their attacks near Kupyansk, a city in the Kharkiv region that Ukrainian forces liberated last fall. “The enemy has increased its presence on the front line and is testing our defense lines for weak points. Our defenders reliably hold their positions and are ready for any possible actions of the enemy,” Synegubov said in a statement.
He also reported that about eight people were injured in one of the latest Russian missiles strikes in Kharkiv. Two of the victims are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, in the west of the country, Ukrainian air defense units are firing back at multiple cruise missile attacks. “That is Russian revenge for the fact that the whole world supports us,” Khmelnitskyi Governor Serhiy Hamaliy said in a statement. He also reported a missile strike in the city, saying that part of Khmelnitsky was without power.
Ukrainian Air Force Command reported the destruction of five cruise missiles and five of seven Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones Russia launched from the coast of the Sea of Azov. The Russians also launched six Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles from a Russian frigate in the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian Air Force added that air defense units shot down 61 of 71 cruise missiles that Russia launched.
“The occupiers also launched a massive attack with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from the districts of Belgorod (Russia) and Tokmak (occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region),” the air force said in a statement. “Up to 35 anti-aircraft guided missiles (S-300) were launched in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, which cannot be destroyed in the air by means of air defense. Around 8:30 a.m. cruise missiles were launched from Tu-95 MS strategic bombers.”
This article has been updated.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
“Attention. The air alert is over. May the force be with you.”
That voice reading that message, heard on the Englishversion of an app signaling the end of Russian air raids over Ukraine, belongs to Luke Skywalker (well, the actor Mark Hamill).
The app received a Star Wars-themed update last year, just one of several actions that Hamill has taken to support Ukraine in its fight against Vladimir Putin’s “evil empire.”
In an exclusive interview with POLITICO, Hamill said that his position as an ambassador for the fundraising platform United24’s “Army of Drones” project is the most important role he’s ever played.
“I’m an actor, I deal in illusion and fantasy,” he said from his house in Malibu, California. “I’m like a modern-day court jester.” But the role helping Ukraine “is much more meaningful than what I’m used to doing. And I’m happy to do it.”
Moreover, Hamill said he is not only an ambassador but a “good soldier” and would do anything that Volodymyr Zelenskyy (or his fundraising team) asks him to do. “I follow orders,” Hamill said.
POLITICO revealed last week that Hamill is selling signed posters to raise cash for maintaining the Ukrainian army’s drone supply. It really is the return of the Jedi — Hamill revealed he hasn’t sold autographed items since 2017, when “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” came out. “It’s just not something I do,” he said. The posters are expected to arrive in Kyiv and go on sale any day now.
The “Army of Drones” project for which Hamill is an ambassador involves drone procurement and maintenance, as well as pilot training, with the drones used to monitor the front line.
It is a joint venture between the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the fundraising platform United24, which was set up by Zelenskyy and has so far raised more than €252 million.
“Drones are so vital in this conflict. They are the eyes in the sky. They protect the border, they monitor,” Hamill said, adding that Russia is using drones to attack civilians while Ukraine uses them as reconnaissance support to gather information.
The actor said he was “honored” that Zelenskyy personally asked him to come on board. “I’m not used to being contacted by world leaders,” he said.
But he is used to taking a political stand.
Referring to himself as a “life-long Democrat,” Hamill is very vocal on Twitter with his support of the U.S. Democrats and has critcized former President Donald Trump.
“Every Democrat that asked me to help them in their campaigns, doing Zooms and appearances … I said yes to all of them,” Hamill said, before adding proudly that he once received a letter from President Joe Biden, although: “I follow him on Twitter, but he doesn’t follow me back.”
But at the moment Hamill’s political focus is on Ukraine, and he said he feels “obligated” to do everything that Zelenskyy’s fundraising team asks him to do, “however small it is.”
Zelenskyy thanked Hamill with a virtual meeting, in which the president said: “The light will win over darkness. I believe in this, our people believe in this.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
