At the Kyiv Independent Store we helped raise just over $24,000 from April 21 to May 5, 2026, through our "No News is Bad News" campaign. Together with our supporters, we enabled the Institute of Mass Information — a Kyiv-based organization that defends press freedom and supports journalists' rights and safety — to purchase 26 drone detectors to help protect independent regional journalists reporting from the front line.
We launched the campaign ahead of World Press Freedom Day (May 3, 2026). With press freedom under attack around the world, the campaign highlighted that a silent press is a censored press, with the Store launching a collection featuring T-shirts with the slogan "No News is Bad News" and a notebook with the slogan: "Press Freedom is Your Freedom."
Our goal was to allocate the collection's profits to fund 20 drone detectors. However, thanks to our supporters, the Institute was able to purchase an additional six of these vital pieces of safety equipment.
The campaign extended beyond the store. While we raised $9,182 from sales of our No News is Bad News collection, we also received generous donations to the campaign totaling $14,040. The Institute received an additional $784 in direct donations from our supporters.
With the total donations, the Institute bought 26 Vydun 7.5 drone detectors, which now enable journalists reporting from the front line to get early warning of approaching drones, giving them crucial minutes to seek cover.
Natalia Chaika, RIA Pivden journalist, was one of the journalists who received a detector from the Institute. She recalled her first encounter with an FPV drone: "My colleagues shouted: 'FPV!' and ran for the bushes. My body reacted faster than my brain. From what passed for a shelter, I heard an explosion behind me. Just a minute earlier, we had been standing right by that spot."
Chaika said that FPV drones have now become an everyday threat in Zaporizhzhia, a city in southern Ukraine located approximately 20–30 kilometers from the front line. A drone detector is therefore essential — not only for trips to front-line areas, but also while working at the sites of Russian shelling and even during ordinary filming around the city. Her team previously used rented equipment for field reports, but will now be able to use drone detectors from the Institute free of charge.
The Institute had been looking to fund drone detectors for media use for months prior to the campaign. However, the vast majority of funders were unable to provide funding for equipment suitable for military use. This project, therefore, became possible only through your direct participation — all the purchases and donations you made.
Together, we are helping keep independent regional journalists safe on the front lines.