The glass trophy in the shape of a microphone, which Kalush Orchestra received for winning the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Turin, was auctioned on Sunday evening for $900,000 via Facebook.

The buyer is Whitebid, a digital cryptocurrency trading platform based in Estonia.

For around 840,000 euros, the Ukrainian band around singer Oleh Psiuk wants to buy, among other things, three PD-2 drones for the army in their home country in order to support the soldiers in the fight against Russia.

The artists said the drones could be used for reconnaissance and reconnaissance flights or to bring ammunition, medicine and relief supplies to the war zone.

Via Facebook, they expressly thanked Team Whitebid, “who are now the rightful owners of our trophy”.

Peter Philipp Schmitt

Editor in the department "Germany and the World".

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There was also a prize for the pink knitted hat that Oleh Psiuk wore in Turin and which had become his trademark.

It was raffled off among all those who had donated 200 Ukrainian hryvnia (around five euros) online in the past ten days.

In this way, another eleven million hryvnia were collected for the "good cause", which corresponds to 55,000 individual donations and around 350,000 euros.

The hat went to Ukraine.

The auction ended shortly before this year's ESC winners performed at a concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and sang their winning song "Stefania".

The charity event, part of a series of concerts themed "Save Ukraine - #StopWar", aimed to raise funds for hospitals in Ukraine.

In addition to the Irish rock band U 2, Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed the 15,000 viewers with a video message.

"We stand by your side," said the SPD politician.

"We are sending weapons to Ukraine and are thus breaking with the long-standing German tradition of not delivering weapons to war zones." Scholz also promised that Germany would take part in the country's reconstruction.

Plans were already being made.

On Monday, Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne announced via Instagram that the Kalush Orchestra is to receive a new crystal trophy.