“We should do it again”
Yale professor drums up for “Safe Skies”
December 21, 2023, 10:27 a.m
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Russia has been massively attacking Ukrainian civilian infrastructure for weeks. In response, historian Snyder founded the “Safe Skies” protection program. He reached his ambitious fundraising goal within a very short time. And he has further plans.
The renowned Eastern Europe historian Timothy Snyder has raised almost a million US dollars in just a few weeks for “Safe Skies”, a protection system against Russian cruise missiles and drones. “I can announce that we have reached the goal of $950,000 and that the drone detection system is now being expanded to the Sumy, Odessa, Mikolaiv and Kherson regions. This happened quickly – within six weeks,” writes the Yale professor.
Like last winter, Russia is again trying to destroy Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, leaving the Ukrainian civilian population without electricity and water. “Russia also uses drones and cruise missiles to target Ukrainian grain destined for export to Africa and the Middle East,” Snyder said.
The Russians already launched massive attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure last winter. Millions of Ukrainians had to endure freezing temperatures without electricity or heating. Even now, Ukrainian towns are attacked almost every night with drones and cruise missiles. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, there were 35 attacks by Russian drones that night alone. Ukraine was able to fend off 34. Kiev accuses Moscow of using it to exert terror against the civilian population. Since last year, Ukraine, with the help of its Western allies, has strengthened its air defenses and is therefore able to intercept most drones and missiles from Russia.
Snyder announces new goal
Snyder calls out at the same time for further donations on: “I think we should do this again. With another $950,000 we could protect four more regions – Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava and Cherkasy – from drones and cruise missiles.” About six million people lived here. “We can help keep them safe.”
It is the second major fundraising campaign by the historian, who has written several books about Ukraine and also visited the country during the war. Last winter, Snyder raised funds for a passive drone detection system for Kiev and other areas.
When Russia began attacking cities in other regions this fall, Snyder founded the Safe Skies initiative, which he says is very effective: “The system works. I’ve seen it myself. It detects every single target and enables them Ukrainians to shoot down most of them.” The donations support purely defensive tasks. “It simply locates flying weapons in Ukrainian airspace. That saves lives. And it prevents suffering.”
Snyder’s initiative is supported by other well-known professors: Francis Fukuyama from Stanford University, Rory Finnin from Cambridge, Timothy Garton Ash from Oxford and Serhii Plokhy from Harvard.