The Russo-Ukrainian conflict led some Ukrainian scientists to take steps to protect themselves and their work, including gathering items for self-defense and preparing to flee. Researchers worry that a new conflict will plunge Ukraine into chaos and stop progress made in the field of science.
"I don't know if it will happen tomorrow," said Irina Yegorchenko, a mathematician at the Institute of Mathematics in Kiev, which is near Ukraine's border with Belarus.
The research institute in Crimea, previously run by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, was transferred to Russian control. Fighting in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk continues. This conflict caused 18 universities to move from Luhansk and Donetsk to other parts of the country. Many researchers lost their homes and laboratories.
"Most of the academic staff at one of the transferred universities, Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University, now in Vinnytsia, are people who have been forced to leave and have lost their property, livelihood and family," said Roman Fedorovich Hryniuk, chancellor of the university. the.
As a result of the conflict, many Ukrainian researchers broke with Russia and formed new relationships with their counterparts in Europe, the United States and China.
"It hurts to lose established relationships and build new ones, but it gives us a new perspective," said Illya Khadzhynov, vice chancellor of scientific work at the university.
"There is a very definite threat of war. I feel like I could die tomorrow, or in two days, but I can't do anything about it," Yegorchenko said. Even though he felt that his preparations were useless, he still charged electronic devices such as telephones and power banks, and was in constant contact with his family. "All scientists do that," he added.
"In general, these Russian tensions are aimed at creating chaos in Ukraine, and undermining the economic situation. We knew that we would have less funding for research, less opportunities to travel, and zero possibility of internal conferences in Ukraine," he said.
But overall, she's trying not to worry and is working more than usual to help resolve the situation. "Mathematics is good therapy," he said.
At Sumy National Agrarian University, which is 30 kilometers from the border with Russia, staff have been trained how to behave in the event of hostilities. The university has drawn up plans for employees to evacuate the building to a bomb shelter. There are also plans to remove scientific equipment and unique biological specimens from the region.
"In private conversations, scientists said that they had collected suitcases containing important documents and necessities," said Yurii Danko, an economist at the institute.
The bags contained clothing, medicine, equipment, self-defense items and food, he said. Danko didn't initially believe that Russia would attack, but when it did, many scientists were forced to move from their homes to areas controlled by Ukraine to continue working, or perhaps have to go abroad. "In case of occupation, scientists will not work for the enemy," he added.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, a plant biologist at the K. A. Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology in Moscow, Russia, says that the situation between his country and Ukraine is extremely undesirable and unacceptable.
"A lot of researchers will leave Ukraine and that will be very bad," Kuznetsov said. He originally thought that there would be no invasion, and hoped that the situation would stabilize soon. Scientific collaboration between the two countries has been strained, scientists in Ukraine trying not to show that they are in contact with Russian counterparts, "so as not to endanger themselves and their families", concluded Kuznetsov.