Russian drone strike destroys Kyiv's Pershiy Spalah volunteer center

About 54 volunteers with the Pershiy Spalah volunteer center had been working to support displaced people and Ukrainian defenders — purchasing equipment, delivering aid and producing camouflage nets — before a drone strike destroyed their center in Dnipro.

Maksym Butko, the head of the center, said the attack appeared to be a direct hit from an enemy drone into a large building used by the organization, resulting in a total loss.

“We lost everything we had been doing for three years — thousands of kilometers of nets, Starlinks, cars, everything that was being shipped,” Butko said. “I understand that it’s worth assessing the damage now, but in fact we have lost everything.”

He appealed to the head of Dniprovskyi district and local deputies for help, particularly in providing new premises for volunteers and the Pershiy Spalah volunteer center to continue operations.

“We never asked for anything from the state, we did not take a single grant. We did everything with our own money, with the support of people,” he said. “Now we have nothing left: fabric, nets, everything that was prepared for shipment, equipment, laptops, phones — everything that was supposed to go to the front burned down.”

Butko also reflected on the attack with defiance.

“There is such a thing as a tax on popularity. What we have received is our tax on what we do,” he said. “So we are so cool that the Katsaps see us as a threat. It’s cool when your enemies are afraid of you. We are the best.”