Vasyl Bodnar, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, explained why Ukraine began a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of surface drones.

First of all, they are needed to become protected against Russian cruise missile carriers, and to secure merchant ships from possible attacks by the Russian Federation.

Vasily Bodnar gave his opinion to the Naval News.

“The fleet of drones may have the task of protecting civilian vessels from possible attacks by Russia. Let me remind you that it was the Russian fleet since the beginning of the war that blocked Ukrainian ports, attacked civilian vessels, Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, occupied part of our territories,” the Ambassador said.

He also stressed that the invaders fired more than 4.5 thousand missiles on the territory of Ukraine, while one in five were fired from naval carriers.

Vasyl Bodnar also stressed that some of the ships of the Russian fleet are situated in the temporarily occupied ports of Ukraine. Therefore, they represent a legitimate target for the defense forces of Ukraine.

According to the Ambassador, the first three drones are planned to be named “Kherson,” “Mariupol” and “Sevastopol.”

Over UAH 120 mln ($300 000) was collected just on the first day of the campaign.

“Ukrainian people are well organized and are very supportive of such initiatives,” Vasyl Bodnar emphasized.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, announced a fundraising campaign for the development of a fleet of surface drones on November 5.

It is planned to raise funds for 100 such drones. The cost of one system is 10 million hryvnia.

These are multifunctional drones developed in Ukraine.

Main characteristics:

• Length – 5.5m
• Total weight – up to 1000 kg
• Operational range – up to 400 km
• Range – up to 800 km
• Autonomy – up to 60 hours
• Warhead – up to 200kg
• Maximum speed – 80 km/h.
• Navigation – automatic GNSS, inertial, visual
• Video transmission – up to three HD video streams
• Cryptoprotection of encryption – 256 bits

In addition to the drone itself, equipped with an autopilot system, video subsystems, including night vision, backup communication modules and a combat unit, the complex includes a ground-based autonomous control station, a transportation and storage system and a data center.

Recall, on October 29, surface drones and unmanned aerial vehicles attacked ships located in Sevastopol Bay.