This has been going on for a while now but seems to be getting a lot more organized. One organization claims they've raised over $1.5mil in donations from people who want to send a message to Russia, literally. (Signmyrocket.com) Another (Revengefor) over $200,000. And another, by an American vet, seems to have just started recently. (Harmata). As always, check out any organization first before sending your $50 or whatever.
According to Anton Sokolenko of Signmyrocket, “Ninety-five percent of the orders are in English and most are from the United States.”
Source: New York Times
After more than a year of war, Ukrainians have a lot to say to Russia, and many have chosen to say it on the sides of rockets, mortar shells and even exploding drones. Thousands of messages have been sent, ranging from the sardonic to the bitter, among them one from Valentyna Vikhorieva, whose 33-year-old son died in the war.
“For Yura, from Mom,” Ms. Vikhorieva asked an artillery unit to write on a shell. “Burn in hell for our children.”
Ms. Vikhorieva said her son, a Ukrainian soldier, was killed last spring by a Russian artillery shell.
“I will never forget,” she said in an interview. “And he will always be my boy.”
It is more than just venting.
Charity groups and even the military have seized on the desire of Ukrainians to voice their anger as a mechanism to raise funds — never mind that however well-crafted the messages, the Russians are unlikely ever to read them. The shell cases, of course, generally explode into smithereens. And if they hit their target, their intended recipients may be in no condition to appreciate them.
