Bicycling across Ukraine: a volunteer who assembles drones for the military arrived in Mykolaiv

Volunteer Petro Skrypka in Mykolaiv. Photo: NikVesti

Ukrainian veteran Petro Skrypka, who is going to donate to the Armed Forces, came to Mykolaiv. For this, he covered thousands of kilometers by bicycle.

NikVesti spoke with the volunteer and learned about his future plans.

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Petro Skrypka went to serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces, despite the fact that he had a chronic disease — multiple sclerosis. The man said that he served in the Azov Teroboron, but a year later the disease was discovered, so he was dismissed from the service. When Petro was in the hospital, he came up with the idea of running marathons across Ukraine and Europe, making broadcasts on TikTok, thus collecting donations for the military.

The man started his first «Marathon of Good» on July 12, 2023, he planned the route from Kyiv to Europe. In this way, he was able to collect 1.5 million hryvnias for the treatment and rehabilitation of the Ukrainian military. He transferred this money to the «Angels of Azov» charity fund.

Now the man switched to a bicycle, because his illness made it difficult to travel on foot.

«I feel great, because it is easier to move on a bicycle than on foot, because now, firstly, it is hot, and secondly, it is faster to cover distances with a bicycle where there is no communication, due to turning off the lights,» he added.

The flag of Ukraine, on which the volunteer marks the cities he managed to visit since the marathon. Photo: «NykVesty"

From Kryvyi Rih via Bashtanka, the volunteer went to Mykolaiv. Next, he plans to go to Odesa, Chernivtsi and finish his route in Ivano-Frankivsk, where he started. Talking about his plans, the volunteer noted that he had already collected 730,000 hryvnias for this marathon, but 16,000 hryvnias were still not enough to close the collection.

«Compared to the last marathon, the asset has completely fallen, due to the fact that I am blocked in social networks. During the marathon, they managed to collect 120,000 hryvnias for EW (electronic warfare equipment), 20,000 hryvnias for generators, and 590,000 hryvnias for drones. We also have a small amount of help for our military,» said Petro Skrypka.

We will remind that, on the basis of the Transcarpathian air reconnaissance unit «Birds of Madiar», a separate regiment of unmanned attack aircraft systems of the Marine Corps was created. In turn, they announced «component mobilization» — the opening of 119 types of vacancies for the civilian population.