How vapes banned in Britain have gotten energy banks for Ukrainian troopers on the frontline
Vapes banned in Britain are becoming power banks used by frontline Ukrainian soldiers to charge their drones and phones.
The ban on single-use vapes came into effect in June, following a push by Sir Keir Starmer over their contribution to pollution and to combat their use by children.
Since the ban, manufacturers and retailers have been sat on huge piles of the illegal vapes, unsure how best to get rid of them.
According to one 2023 report, the UK discarded five million single-use vapes a week, with the lithium in these being enough to create 5,000 electric car batteries.
So Viacheslav Semeniuk, a Ukrainian volunteer, who lives in Leeds, had the bright idea of extracting the tiny batteries inside and sending them to Ukraine to be used as power banks.
He told Radio Free Europe that the makers of vapes ‘can’t sell them anymore so basically we’re just helping to make [manufacturers and retailers’] lives easier, because they need to do something with them’.
Viacheslav, who works as a cybersecurity developer for Sky, gathers groups of volunteers together to extract the batteries, often with a film on in the background.
He said: ‘We gather together in my house or whoever’s house it is and then we sit maybe watching a movie or drinking wine. It’s like a family evening.’
Vapes banned in Britain are becoming power banks used by frontline Ukrainian soldiers to charge their drones and phones
The vapes are broken down in the UK to avoid costly taxes
Others are also doing the same thing, like entrepreneur Tom Nabielec, who collects unwanted vapes to be donated through the Ukrainian Social Club in London.
He told RFE that shops are desperate to get rid of the vapes: ‘It costs [retailers] money to recycle otherwise and here in the UK they must by law.’
Tom added that after one shop gave him a stash of vapes, word quickly spread to others in the area who also donated their dead stock.
Viacheslav said the vapes are broken down in the UK to avoid costly taxes, as the loose batteries can be considered ‘waste’.
Once they arrive in Ukraine, the batteries are then glued into 3D-printed power bank shells, which can then be used by soldiers for ‘whatever USB-powered devices there are’.
Despite this support, Ukraine’s soldiers are still in desperate need of supplies and cash.
Today, Spain announced it will provide Ukraine with a fresh military aid package worth 615 million euros (£541million) to support its fight against Russia’s invasion.
Speaking at a Madrid press conference alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sanchez said around 300 million euros of the package would be allocated to ‘new defence equipment’.
Viacheslav (pictured, left), who works as a cybersecurity developer for Sky, gathers groups of volunteers together to extract the batteries, often with a film on in the background
Once they arrive in Ukraine, the batteries are then glued into 3D-printed power bank shells, which can then be used by soldiers for ‘whatever USB-powered devices there are’
‘Your fight is ours,’ Sanchez said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ‘neo-imperialism’ seeks to ‘weaken the European project and everything it stands for.’
The package also designates 215 million euros to fund the production of anti-drone systems, surveillance radars, and aerial reconnaissance equipment, much of which will be developed by Spanish companies.
These efforts will be supported through the European Union’s new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund, which aims to help Europe provide for its own security.
Additionally, 100 million euros will be transferred to a NATO-led initiative supplying Ukraine with air defence systems.
Under the initiative – known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL – European allies and Canada are purchasing US weapons to help Kyiv counter Russian forces.
The Spanish announcement comes a day after Zelensky signed an accord in Paris with France for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets and other military hardware, including drones.
Zelensky is scheduled to travel to Turkey on Wednesday for renewed peace talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of people – both civilians and soldiers – have died and millions have been displaced, leaving large areas of the country devastated.
Earlier Tuesday, Sanchez and Zelensky visited Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum to view Pablo Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece Guernica, which the Spanish leader called a ‘universal symbol of barbarity’.
The painting is named after a Basque town bombed on 26 April 1937 by Nazi German forces supporting General Francisco Franco during Spain’s civil war. The attack killed as many as 1,600 people and wounded thousands.
In April 2022, weeks after Russia’s invasion, Zelensky drew comparisons between the bombing of Guernica and Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities.
