The Ukrainian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest say they have auctioned off their trophy to support the military forces fighting the invasion from Russia.
"A special thanks to the team Whitebit who purchased the trophy for $900,000 and are now the rightful owners of our trophy," the Kalush Orchestra band said on Sunday.
Whitebit is a Ukrainian company that operates a crypto exchange, an online trading platform where cryptocurrencies can be bought, sold and exchanged.
During a charity concert in Berlin on Sunday, the band's frontman Oleh Psiuk also raffled off his signature pink bucket hat, with all proceeds donated to the Ukrainian army.
Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision in Turin in mid-May with the song "Stefania" after becoming the clear winner of the audience vote all across Europe.
The clear victory was taken as a show of solidarity for Ukraine from audiences in dozens of countries in the context of Russia's invasion. Russia had been excluded from taking part in the contest because of the war.
Since 2008, the winning artists at the Eurovision Song Contest have been presented with a glass microphone trophy made by the Swedish designer Kjell Engman.
The "mother trophy" remains with the Eurovision organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and is usually put on display at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. Meanwhile the songwriters of the winning song receive a smaller copy of the trophy.
