The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine says the country is accepting dogecoin donations and urges Elon Musk and other holders to help 'save lives from Russian invaders'

• Ukraine began taking dogecoin donations aimed at supporting its defense against Russia's invasion.
• Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a Twitter post called on Elon Musk and other dogecoin owners to support Ukraine.

Ukraine is accepting donations of dogecoin for its defense against Russia, with one of the country's top leaders calling on billionaire Elon Musk and other dogecoin owners to help support its wartime efforts.

"We start to accept donations in meme coin. Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders," wrote Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a Wednesday message on Twitter.

He posted the message following Russia's apparent acceleration of its attack on the former Soviet republic. Russian forces on Tuesday intensified attacks in the city of Kharkiv by reportedly firing missiles that hit government offices and hit residential areas.

Fedorov, who also serves as Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, included the address of the country's official dogecoin wallet in the message to his roughly 180,000 Twitter followers.

"$DOGE owners of the world, @elonmusk, @BillyM2k, let's do it," Fedorov wrote in addressing dogecoin enthusiast and Tesla boss Elon Musk and dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus who lists himself as "Shibetoshi Nakamoto" on the social media app.

Markus responded to Fedorov, telling him that he "sent some" undisclosed amount of the meme coin.

"dogecoin folks aren't usually rich and dogecoin itself is generally used for small transactions, but we are a caring and passionate bunch," wrote Markus.

The Ukrainian government on Tuesday thanked the "global crypto community" for making donations and said it was taking donations of polkadot, the native token of the Polkadot blockchain. Gavin Wood, Polkadot's co-founder, sent $5 million worth of the cryptocurrency to Ukraine, according to a Tuesday tweet from Federov.

Ukraine is also accepting solana donations, with Federov separately noting the creation of Aid For Ukraine, a joint project the government has with the Solana Foundation and staking service platform Everstake. Ukraine also takes bitcoin, ether and tether donations.

The Ukrainian government, along with non-government organizations and DAOs supporting the country, has received more than $52 million in crypto donations, Merkle Science, a blockchain analytics firm said Wednesday. Ukraine's polkadot wallet recorded more than $6 million in incoming transactions in the 24 hours since acceptance began, the firm said.

Fedorov launched Wednesday's call for dogecoin donations by noting the meme coin's value has exceeded that of the Russian ruble, which has collapsed in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Dogecoin on Wednesday traded at $0.1345 to the US dollar while the ruble was worth less than 1 cent against the greenback.