How Ukraine recreated the Soledar Salt Mine in Minecraft to let players compete for prizes and donate to restore a school hit by a Russian missile
Dig in Minecraft. Rebuild in Real Life French developers Endorah … Minesalt : Welcome to Minesalt — Minesalt is a Recreation of the Soledar Salt Mines in Minecraft. Odessa Journal : United24 recreated the salt mines of Soledar in the game to rebuild the school destroyed by the Russians X: @u24_gov_ua : Coming soon... [video] @wired : Launched today by @U24_gov_ua, Minesalt is a Minecraft mod that recreates the Soledar Salt Mine in Eastern Ukraine. Players can race to find hidden crystals or explore at their own pace. Donations will help rebuild a school destroyed in the Russian assault. 📹: Endorah [video] @u24_gov_ua : Since February 2023, Soledar has been occupied by russia. The goal of the #Minesalt project is to remind the world about the war in Ukraine and raise funds to rebuild the Velyka Kostromka School destroyed by russians. @u24_gov_ua : U24 ambassadors — @richardbranson, Sir Paul Nurse, @mishacollins, @usykaa, @StationCDRKelly, Oleksandr Zinchenko, @KatherynWinnick and @IvannaSakhno — will accompany you in the virtual mines of Soledar. Dig in Minecraft. Rebuild in Real Life ⛏🏗 https://u24.gov.ua/... @u24_gov_ua : 📰#Minesalt — in @WIRED “The idea for Minesalt comes from UNITED24. Minesalt, which launches today, might be their most inspired effort yet. Funds raised through the game will go to rebuilding the Velyka Kostromka School in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.” Read: https://www.wired.com/... [image] Richard Branson / @richardbranson : Well, there's a first for everything. Ukraine's Soledar salt mines are now in Minecraft, thanks to @U24_gov_ua... And so am I! You can meet me in the world of #Minesalt and play the virtual game while helping to rebuild a school in Ukraine: https://u24.gov.ua/... #Minecraft @u24_gov_ua : How to play #Minesalt⛏️ We have made a step-by-step guide✍️ Play the game as many times as you like: collect 140 crystals, win cool prizes, learn about these amazing salt mines and help Ukraine. Dig in Minecraft. Rebuild in Real Life. https://u24.gov.ua/... [video] Mykhailo Fedorov / @fedorovmykhailo : But it's not just a game for the game. Scan QR and donate to rebuild the school that was destroyed by Russia. Give back to children the opportunity to be together: learn, play and dream, even during a big war! https://u24.gov.ua/... @u24_gov_ua : Soledar salt mines are now in #Minecraft! Together with @EndorahCreation, we present #Minesalt, a Minecraft-based game that recreates Soledar's salt mines. 16 locations and 500 km of tunnels, alongside a unique lore and 140 collectible crystals👇 https://u24.gov.ua/... [video] Angela Watercutter / @waterslicer : Soledar Salt Mine shut down when Russia invaded Ukraine. For a while, it was a bunker. About a year into the fighting, Russia seized & occupied it. Now, the Ukrainian government has recreated Soledar in Minecraft so everyone can visit it. A look inside: https://www.wired.com/... @kyivpost : Today, #UNITED24 @U24_gov_ua launched Minesalt, a new game in the Minecraft world, featuring the Ukrainian salt mines of occupied #Soledar (#Donetsk region) - the largest salt mining site in Europe. [video] Mykhailo Fedorov / @fedorovmykhailo : Dig Minecraft and rebuild in real life. @U24_gov_ua together with @EndorahCreation created a game Minesalt — about the city Soledar. It's famous for its salt mines — the largest salt production in Europe. Play the game and discover the Soledar. [video] @united24media : The @U24_gov_ua fundraising platform, in collaboration with Endorah, has launched Minesalt, a unique Minecraft-based game, recreating the vast salt mines of Ukrainian Soledar. It offers players a chance to explore, collect crystals, and contribute to the reconstruction of... [video] @u24_gov_ua : The developers have accurately recreated the underground world of Soledar in #Minesalt⛏ A total of 16 locations are waiting for you. What are salt tears, who is the mine's owner, what exhibit is 250 million years old? Find out in Minesalt: https://u24.gov.ua/... 👇 [image] @u24_gov_ua : 🤔Did you know that salt isn't the only thing Soledar mines are known for? Their acoustics can compete with the best music venues in the world. Concerts of symphony and opera orchestras, jazz festivals, football matches, and even a hot air balloon launch were performed there! [image]
Context & Ripple Effects
Minesalt extends a documented pattern of Minecraft being used as a social space rather than only a game: educators have built literary settings in it, while students used recreated campuses for remote ceremonies. Here, UNITED24 and EndorahCreation turn a digitally recreated site into a participation-and-donation campaign tied to a damaged school.
The project also enters an information environment where Minecraft and Roblox have carried Russia’s war narrative to young and Russian-speaking audiences. Its importance is therefore both fundraising and the use of a familiar platform to preserve and circulate a Ukrainian account of a place under occupation.
First-order effects
- Players can explore UNITED24 and EndorahCreation’s Minecraft recreation of the Soledar salt mines, collect crystals, and compete for prizes, creating a direct route from gameplay to the school-restoration appeal.
- UNITED24 gains a reusable, interactive campaign asset around Soledar while the Velyka Kostromka School becomes the stated beneficiary of donations associated with Minesalt.
Second-order effects
- The campaign raises the bar for war-related digital outreach: static donation appeals can be supplemented by participatory experiences that give supporters a reason to return and share.
- Because gaming platforms have also been used to spread Russian war messaging, Ukraine’s use of Minecraft makes the platform a more visibly contested channel for public engagement and narrative-setting.
Third-order effects
- If such campaigns sustain participation and donations, reconstruction fundraising may increasingly combine cultural preservation, gaming communities, and measurable in-game activity rather than treating them as separate channels.
- The broader contest over platform-mediated wartime communication could make game worlds a recurring venue for civic campaigns, while leaving their fundraising effectiveness dependent on sustained player interest.
The trend: War-related civic campaigns are shifting from one-way online appeals toward interactive game environments that combine community participation, cultural memory, and fundraising.