Czechia's Gifts for Putin initiative wants to send 10,000 detonators to Ukraine

The Czech group Gift for Putin (Darek pro Putina) has launched a new fund-raising campaign to raise CZK 14 million to purchase 10 tons of plastic explosives for the Ukrainian army. So far, over CZK 1.3 million has been donated. The group previously raised money for a rocket launcher and a tank.

The funds will also be used to buy 10,000 detonators and 10 kilometers of cord for connecting charges, known as flashbangs, from the STV Group company seated in Polička in the Pardubice region.

The campaign has the name Robert ďábel (Robert the Devil) in Czech and Big Bada Boom in English. The Czech name refers to the movie The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians. 

"There is a scene where the count, played by Miloš Kopecký, enlists a mad scientist to blow up the entire castle. They call it Akce dábel (Operation Devil), while Robert the Devil is a forgotten opera, so we played with the reference to the film in the title," Gift for Putin's Martin Ondráček told news server iDnes.

The explosives and supplies are intended for the Ukrainian police special unit Kord, which operates on the frontline.

"It is a new generation of explosive, it has a very good viscosity, it works even under water. The advantage is that it is in stock in sufficient quantities, so as soon as we collect the money, it will go to Ukraine in a very short time," Ondráček told ČTK.

On Sunday, the group ended a collection for an RM-70 salvo rocket launcher for the Ukrainian army. Over CZK 50 million was raised for it, Ondráček said.

The rocket launcher will be handed over to the Ukrainian side in a few weeks, with 365 missiles to follow later.

The rocket launcher has undergone an overhaul at STV Group's plant in Polička. The collection for it began on Feb. 20, with 19,165 donors, both individuals and companies, contributing to it.

The Gift for Putin collection was previously used to purchase the Tomáš tank, which has inspired followers to take similar actions abroad. In total, several dozen tanks have thus been acquired for Ukraine.

The initiative also bought other weapons systems, drones, and an off-road van. Yesterday, the Twitter account Praise The Steph, which monitors the war, released images of the Tomáš tank serving in the Donetsk region near Bakhmut.