AssetID: 53592448
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Ukraine's Famous Soledar Mines Recreated In Minecraft To Help Rebuild Bombed School
Caption: Ukraine’s famous Soledar salt mines have been recreated in the computer game Minecraft - just over a year on from their occupation by Russian forces. French developers Endorah, alongside UNITED24, have created Minesalt, a Minecraft-based game that aims to raise funds to rebuild a school destroyed in a Russian attack. In real life, Soledar was not only the largest salt producer in Europe but a tourist spot but became a frontline in the war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After more than a year of fighting it eventually fell to Russian troops in February last year. The goal of the Minesalt project is to remind the world about the war in Ukraine and rebuild the Velyka Kostromka school in Dnipropetrovsk which was destroyed by a Russian misile. Yaroslava Gres, UNITED24 Coordinator, says: “After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Soledar became a fortress of the war, defending against russian forces for over a year. Now, as the city is under temporary occupation, Minesalt is the only way to explore the incredible beauty of these salt mines and commemorate the historical and monumental elements of this place. It preserves its memory, paying tribute to the people who have worked there generation after generation.” Outlining the mechanics of the game, she adds: “There are many hidden places waiting for the players - through the search for crystals, they will learn the history of Soledar and its mines. We hope that as many people as possible around the world will go through Minesalt and fall in love with the Soledar mines as we have.” A host of famous names are also involved in the game, as UNITED24 ambassadors are its characters. These include; Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine Paul Nurse, actor Misha Collins, world heavyweight champion boxer Oleksandr Usyk, astronaut Scott Kelly, footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, actresses Katheryn Winnick and Ivanna Sakhno. They will accompany the players in the virtual mines of Soledar. They will be joined by Stepan Bandrivskyi, a real-life person who has been working at the salt mining enterprise for ten years. He took on the difficult task of helping to recreate the famous mines in the Minesalt game. The biggest challenge for this project was to collect information about the mine. Due to the war, the mine is occupied and no one is able to go there and obtain the archives. The enterprise had developed a virtual reality tour for visitors before the war, but it wasn’t enough to recreate all the details. So, the UNITED24 team started interviewing the miners and made new archives from their memories, personal photos, and videos. One of the workers made a hand-written map that was digitied and sent to the developers. The player's task is to collect crystals in the shortest possible time and complete the quiz at the end of the game based on what they have seen. Among the prizes is an Xbox Series X and packs of salt ‘SOLEDARITY. Ukrainian Rock-Solid Strength’ signed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UNITED24 ambassadors, as well as Twitch gift cards. Minesalt is available from 21 March. All donations will be directed to the reconstruction of the Velyka Kostromka school. Before the full-scale war, 250 children studied there. On 11 October, 2022, the school was destroyed by a Russian missile. Children are studying online and waiting for their school to be rebuilt. To make this wish come true, UNITED24 is raising another $1,150,000.
Keywords: salt mines,feature,soldar,zelensky,zinchenko,usyk,war in ukraine,gaming,minecraft,minesalt,branson
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