By Leonardo Benassatto

KYIV (Reuters – Forget forging swords in ploughshares, a Ukrainian businessman has turned scraps from a Russian fighter jet into key fobs that he can sell abroad as souvenirs to help the war effort.

Iurii Vysoven founder of Drones for Ukraine, stated that “many of my close friends” tells me that “$1,000 is a ridiculous amount – no one will pay you this for this bit of metal.

“In the morning I woke up to see (that) $20-30,000. We get constant messages from people asking us questions, telling us (that), they would like to give more. It is an amazing idea.”

According to the Ukrainian military, the Su-34 Su-34 fighter-bomber is a Russian Su-34. It was launched in early March by Russian forces trying to take over and control the area.

The images were posted by the Ukraine’s defense ministry. It said that the wreckage had the tail number RF-81251 as well as the call sign “31 red”.

Vysoven, after the Russians had withdrawn and refocused their invasion on the eastern Ukraine, asked the defenders of the region if they would let him have some of the debris scattered across the land.

He was told by soldiers that both of the pilots were dead. A helmet in Russian was among the debris that the ministry displayed. It had the last three letters of a surname, ending in “-NOV”, on it. Also included in the collection were an empty leather belt marked “Buryat”, the name for an ethnic group living in Siberia.

Russia doesn’t confirm the details of military losses. Reuters couldn’t verify circumstances when the plane went down.

Vysoven works as an advertiser and has created oblong pieces approximately 10 cm (4 in) long from fragments of fuselage. These were then machined and polished, along with details about the plane, and a “thank-you” note to the buyer. Each one is perforated so that it can be used as a keyring.

He said, “The singularity of this keychain was that it was made from the remains of an actual Russian aircraft.” This is an extremely unique gift for those who have helped us.

Vysoven displays a picture of an infrared thermal imaging drone that he bought for the Ukrainian military with the funds from the keychains.

He said, “Now that the fund has raised more money we feel more responsible.” My dream is to have this fund, we would not need it any more. He said, “My dream is to win. Everyone safe.”

Everyone returns home safely. We don’t have to raise money to save someone else’s life.