The raccoon stolen from the Kherson zoo has proven to be very expensive for the Russians as online memes and fundraising have provided Ukraine with even more armaments.
Source: Republic World
The Fellas, as they are known, are a rowdy band of online comrades with a nose for dog memes who are easily identified by their Shiba Inu profile pictures, are an army, but on the Internet. They comprise the NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organisation) which has been waging an information war on social media against Russian propaganda, and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Ukraine's armies as they go. When Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelesnkyy United24 initiative asked if NAFO wanted to raise money to pay for a naval drone - and give it a name - they did not take much time to make sure that it happened.
The challenge to the fellas is part of United24's quest to assemble a fleet of 100 sea drones, following what Ukraine says was a strike on Russia's Black Sea Fleet in October exclusively using unmanned vessels. It only took a few weeks for the fellas to raise the $250,000 (£205,000) needed for one such drone, which they have duly named Raccoon's Revenge.
"I don't like bullies, and it's pretty plainly evil what the Russians have been doing for a very long time," US Army veteran and current fella Pete told news outlet Sky News. "I appreciate what the Ukrainians are doing militarily - doing more with less - and this has just been a nice outlet to try and help alleviate that in whatever way we can."
Earlier this month, an anonymous French donor named his drone Crime et Châtiment, (Crime and Punishment), after the famous Dostoevsky novel.
