More than 1,400 buildings belonging to scientific institutions in Ukraine have been damaged in Russia’s invasion and restoring public science infrastructure will cost $1.26 billion, a UN agency said on Monday.
The UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organisation UNESCO and the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine released the findings as Russia’s invasion of the pro-Western country entered its third year.
The study said that a total of 1,443 buildings belonging to 177 scientific institutions had been damaged or destroyed by Russia’s invasion.
“Restoring these buildings will cost more than $1.21 billion – including $980.5 million for universities alone as these have suffered the greatest losses,” UNESCO said in a statement.
Scientific infrastructure in the northern region of Kharkiv has been the most severely affected, the statement said.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
More than 750 pieces of scientific and technical equipment have also been damaged, most beyond repair, the study said, adding the cost of restoring the equipment was estimated at $45.9 million.
UNESCO said the situation around the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, near Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, was “of particular concern.”
“Essential equipment for monitoring the state of the nuclear industry has been stolen or destroyed, including a unique radiological laboratory which controls radiation levels,” UNESCO said.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
“The loss of this monitoring equipment represents a major security threat for the wider region.”
Zaporizhzhia is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, seized by Russia in the first days of the invasion.
Before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops across the border in February 2022, Ukraine was famous for its work in fields such as computer science, nuclear physics and astronomy.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
More than 4,000 scientists have left the country, said Amal Kasry, chief of section on basic science, research innovation and engineering at UNESCO, calling the brain drain “a big problem.”
Germany and Poland host the highest number of Ukrainian scientists, according to the report.
At the presentation of the report, Khrystyna Gnatenko, a theoretical physicist from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said Ukrainian scientists still in the country persevered against all odds.
“We cannot predict the future,” she said. “We can’t predict if we will be alive tomorrow.”
jf-as/rlp