Ukraine’s internet army of ‘fellas’ buy sea drone to hunt Russian ships – and name it after celebrity raccoon
There’s a new weapon heading for Ukraine that could help defend its cities from missiles – and it’s named after a famous raccoon.
For months NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organisation) have been waging an information war on social media against Russian propaganda, and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Ukraine’s armies as they go.
The fellas, as they are known, are a rowdy band of online comrades with a nose for dog memes who are easily identified by their Shiba Inu profile pictures.
So when Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s United24 initiative asked if NAFO wanted to raise money to pay for a naval drone – and give it a name – they were quick to bite.
Explosions within Russia a ‘significant failure’ – Ukraine war latest updates
The challenge to the fellas is part of United24’s quest to assemble a fleet of 100 sea drones, following what Ukraine says was a strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in October exclusively using unmanned vessels.
It only took a few weeks for the fellas to raise the $250,000 (£205,000) needed for one such drone, which they have duly named Raccoon’s Revenge.
Why that name? It’s kind of a long tail.
As Russian forces prepared to retreat from the city of Kherson in the face of Ukrainian offensives last month, bizarre footage surfaced appearing to show animals being stolen from the local zoo, including a raccoon.
‘The raccoon of Kherson’ which was taken from the city’s zoo has a Telegram channel dedicated to it
Since then, “The Raccoon of Kherson” has become something of a celebrity on Russian social media and has been used as a mascot by Russian paratroopers.
Clearly the fellas believe that the raccoon has not forgotten its Ukrainian roots, and the moniker Raccoon’s Revenge defeated names including HMS Bonquerer and Aqua Bonker 9000 in a recent poll of more than 11,000 people.
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This video shared by Ukrainian media outlets purports to show maritime drones attacking Russian warships in Sevastopol in October
Money raised by NAFO fellas helping Ukraine
“I was partial to HMS Bonqueror myself, but Racoon’s Revenge was the community choice,” US Army veteran and current fella Pete told Sky News.
He added: “If a Russian warship gets taken out by a drone crowdfunded by NAFO, that might be hard to top as far as humour in this war goes.
“And with the thousands of mortar and artillery shells, dozens of vehicles and artillery pieces we’ve sponsored, and all the rest, that’s a pretty high bar to clear.”
Pete also helps run the forge – the team of designers who create custom ‘fella’ avatars for people who donate to Ukraine.
He added: “I’d like to highlight the fellas in the forge who are responsible for making the diverse, highly creative profile pics for donation.
“Without them, this whole thing is impossible. They’re truly the glue that holds this together, and without them, Kama and I would have been unable to keep up.”
They are NAFO and they’re here to troll Russian politicians and raise money for Ukraine. Meet the fellas. Pic: @Official_NAFO/@fellarequests
NAFO have already raised huge sums – a million dollars by some counts – for the Ukrainian military and their tongue-in-cheek humour has proved popular online.
Their slogans and fellas are appearing everywhere, including painted on a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun named “Super Bonker 9,000”.
United24 said on Twitter: “You did it, you magnificent doggos!
“As of this morning, $255,546 for the #NAFOdrone has been raised!
“Thank you to every fella for making this happen, for every #nafofleet, every donation. Raccoon’s Revenge is non-negotiable, thanks to each one of you.”
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What are sea drones useful for?
So what are naval drones like the Raccoon’s Revenge, and have they been used in the war before?
Russia says that 16 maritime drones were involved in the attack on its Black Sea fleet near the Crimean port of Sevastopol in October, with two ships suffering damage.
United24 claims that three Russian vessels were damaged, including the flagship Admiral Makarov.
An example of the naval drones Ukraine is crowdfunding. Pic: United24
The naval drones being funded through United24 are 5.5 metres long, have a range of up to 800km (500 miles) and can carry a combat load of up to 200kg.
Missiles fired from Russian warships have been part of Moscow’s destruction of Ukraine’s power networks that has plunged cities into darkness – so Ukraine hopes that naval drones can disrupt the ships.
Speaking to Sky News previously, US Army Lieutenant Colonel and drone warfare expert Paul Lushenko said maritime drones are “just another axis of approach” to target Russian assets.
“There’s only so many target acquisition systems on even these exquisite boats these days.
“And so when you have a swarming of capabilities, how do you prioritise targets?”
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Read more from Sky News:
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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