Kyivstar and Come Back Alive Foundation raise $1.5million for Ukrainian air defense

Kyivstar contributed UAH 50 million ($1.2 million), with an additional UAH 15 million (more than $300,000) raised by the operator’s 132,000 subscribers through the charity Superpower "Help for the Armed Forces."

“Supporting our defenders is our constant duty as a Ukrainian company,” Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov said on July 12.

“It is important for us at Kyivstar to implement projects that meet the needs of the military and save lives. Mobile communication systems for the South Air Command are essential today to ensure the safety of Ukrainians. We are grateful to all subscribers who join Kyivstar's socially important initiatives and bring victory closer together with us.”

The fundraising project, launched in April, successfully accumulated enough funds in just three months. This effort, along with Kyivstar's contribution, is part of a broader commitment to provide UAH 100 million (almost $2.5 million) in aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, following the Russian hacker cyberattack on Dec. 12, 2023. The funds raised will be used to provide ten integrated communication equipment (ICE) for the South Military Command, covering Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and parts of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kirovohrad oblasts of Ukraine.

“The ICEs delivered to the military in the joint project with Kyivstar are a response to the new challenges of the war,” said Oleh Karpenko, Deputy Director of the Come Back Alive Foundation.

“They consist of specially equipped four-wheel drive trucks to coordinate the work and organize communication between air defense units. They receive information about the danger from the air and transmit it to the combat unit in a matter of seconds.”

The deployment of the ICEs will significantly enhance airspace protection over the southern regions of Ukraine.

The Come Back Alive Foundation continues to accumulate funds to support the current needs of the Ukrainian Air Force, and donations can be made to its account.

Kyivstar is Ukraine's largest electronic communications operator, serving about 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1 million Home Internet subscribers as of April 2024. The company provides services using a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud solutions, cybersecurity services, and digital TV. Kyivstar is developing new telecom technologies in Ukraine and plans to invest USD 600 million in this area over the next three years. The company helps Ukraine overcome wartime challenges and has allocated over UAH 2 billion (almost $50 million) over the past two years to support the Armed Forces, subscribers, and social projects. Kyivstar's shareholder is the international VEON Group. The Group's shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) and Euronext (Amsterdam) stock exchanges. Kyivstar has been operating in Ukraine for 26 years and is recognized as the largest taxpayer in the electronic communications market, the best employer, and a socially responsible company. For more information, please contact: pr@kyivstar.net, www.kyivstar.ua