ESC winner Kalush Orchestra sell trophy - and donate drones for Ukraine war

Created: 05/30/2022, 16:58

By: Bettina Menzel

Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest held on May 15 in Turin, Italy.

The band is now auctioning off the ESC trophy.

© Alessandro Di Marco / ZUMA Press / Imago

The Ukrainian ESC winners Kalush Orchestra are auctioning their trophy - and now want to use the proceeds of 900,000 US dollars to buy drones for the Ukrainian military.

Kyiv - The Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in mid-May.

Especially in the audience ratings, the band was clearly ahead, which was interpreted as a sign of solidarity in the escalating Ukraine conflict.

Russia, on the other hand, was excluded from ESC participation this year.

Now Kalush Orchestra auctioned their ESC trophy and broke a record.

The money will go to the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine war: ESC winning band Kalush Orchestra breaks record in online stream

In the jury rating of the Eurovision Song Contest, Ukraine was fourth, but after adding up the audience points, the country climbed to first place.

The winning band Kalush Orchestra has now decided to auction off their ESC trophy online.

Participants could bid with the cryptocurrency ETH as well as with fiat money for the trophy in the form of a glass microphone.

Those who bid Fiat money were also automatically entered into a raffle for frontman Oleh Psjuk's trademark - a pink bucket hat.

The musician, who comes from the Ukrainian city of Kalush, also wore this during his ESC performance.

In the end, Ukrainian crypto company Whitebit won the cup with a bid of $900,000.

"We are grateful to everyone who has donated," said the band Kalush Orchestra on Sunday evening.

"A special thanks to Team Whitebit who bought the trophy for $900,000 and are now the legal owner." Whitebit operates a crypto exchange where cryptocurrencies can be bought, sold and traded.

"Never before has so much money been collected during a stream," it said on Sunday evening at the end of the auction on Kalush Orchestra's Instagram channel.

Ukraine war: All donations from the ESC auction winners go to the Ukrainian military

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on the West to supply arms.

These are decisive for the outcome of the war.

In his view, Western countries are not united on Ukraine's side.

Germany is sometimes seen as too hesitant when it comes to arms deliveries.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, said it seemed "that the federal government has no will to help us with heavy weapons as soon as possible."

Against this background in the Ukraine war, the ESC winners decided to buy three PD-2 drones for the Ukrainian military with the proceeds of 900,000 US dollars, as the band announced on Instagram.

The money goes to the Prytula Foundation, which supports the Ukrainian army.

Both Ukrainian and Russian armed forces use drones as weapons and for reconnaissance in the Ukraine war.

The Kalush Orchestra's commitment to their country goes even further: the musicians are planning a European tour to collect further donations for the army and charitable foundations in Ukraine.

That's what frontman Oleg Psyuk said earlier this month.

On Sunday evening, the band took part in the charity event "Save Ukraine - #StopWar" at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.