Ukraine’s Science Under Fire: Russia Is Targeting Knowledge, People and the Future

Russia’s war in Ukraine has another dimension that is often overshadowed by daily reports of missile and drone attacks: the systematic destruction of Ukraine’s scientific infrastructure and human potential. On Sept. 28, 2026, a Russian strike damaged the historic building of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in central Kyiv. People were killed, wounded and reported missing. The deaths of scientist Valerii Kotenko and Natalia Bukalo, assistant to the academician Volodymyr Horbulin, were later confirmed. Horbulin himself was injured.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. As of Oct. 1, 2026, at least 180 Ukrainian scientists killed during the Russian-Ukrainian war had been recorded in the public database of the “My Science” project. The list includes researchers, university lecturers, engineers and graduate students who died either at the front or as a result of Russian attacks. “It’s frightening” On the same day that Russia struck the science academy in Kyiv, a Russian attack also damaged the Dobrobut medical center on Antonovycha Street in Kyiv. The upper floors of the building, where the Dobrobut Academy operates, caught fire. Nana Voitenko, a neuroscientist and rector of the Dobrobut Academy, wrote on Facebook after the attack: “It’s frightening, but not fatal. We will rebuild. Education will not stop. We will partially move it online and partially to other locations.” Other Topics of Interest Kulbergs’ Pro-Ukraine Party Wins Latvian Election The centrist United List secured 36.6% of the vote, defeating pro-Russian rivals while ruling out a coalition with the populist Latvia First. For Voitenko, whose research focuses on the functions of the brain and nervous system at the molecular and cellular levels, continuing to work during the war is both a scientific and educational challenge. After the building was damaged, she took responsibility for maintaining the academy’s educational process while continuing her own research and supporting international partnerships. Damage to nuclear research institute According to the Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, at 6:18 p.m. Kyiv time on Sept. 30, 2026, a Russian drone struck the grounds of the Institute for Nuclear Research, where Kyiv’s VVR-M research reactor is located. The attack caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished. No one was injured. Investigators are conducting an investigation and assessing the damage. The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine described the incident as an attack on a “peaceful nuclear facility that performs exclusively scientific and research functions.” “[It] is yet another cynical disregard by Russia for internationally recognized principles and standards of nuclear and radiation safety, as well as a war crime,” the regulator said. Ukrainian science communicator, scientist and volunteer Anton Senenko wrote on Facebook after the Sept. 28 attack that Russia is doing so “because [it] can.” “Today [Sept. 28, 2026] Russia has proved that science does not exist outside politics. Russian scientists are developing methods and technologies every day that allow them to kill Ukrainians as effectively as possible. Including their Ukrainian colleagues,” Senenko said. “More than one scientific institute has already been destroyed. The strike on the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences is simply a signal: ‘We are killing everyone because we can.’ Sanctions against Russian science must be strengthened and expanded. There is a peaceful atom, but there is no peaceful Russian science,” he added. Interrupting years of scientific research Russian strikes are destroying laboratories, scientific equipment, unique collections and research environments built over decades. On the night of July 2, 2026, a Russian drone attack caused significant damage to the O. V. Palladin Institute of Biochemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in central Kyiv. One of the laboratory buildings sustained extensive damage. Its roof was destroyed and a fire broke out. The flames, blast wave and water used to extinguish the fire damaged laboratories, equipment, reagents and biological collections. Such attacks disrupt research that cannot simply be restarted by replacing a damaged building. They interrupt years of work by scientific teams and schools that have developed over decades, bringing together researchers of different generations, students, international partnerships, accumulated knowledge and expertise. Yet Ukrainian scientists are already demonstrating that even a destroyed laboratory does not necessarily mean the end of scientific work. The laboratory of Valeriia Trusova, a biophysicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and professor at the Physics and Technology Faculty of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, was completely burned down in the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Trusova had been working with leading scientists around the world on major challenges in human health. Like hundreds of her colleagues across Ukraine, however, she continues to live and work in the country. She continues her research and teaching in Kharkiv. Science as part of Ukraine’s defense capacity Following the strike on the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Anton Senenko pointed out that modern warfare increasingly depends on science and technology. “Only knowledge and technology can provide a qualitative advantage, inflict maximum damage or, conversely, save lives,” he said. Modern defense industries rely on both fundamental and applied research – physics, mathematics, materials science, chemistry, electronics, engineering and programming. Ukraine has strong scientific schools in all these fields. Despite the destruction, Ukrainian scientists continue to work. Their resilience is already part of Ukraine’s wartime response. But preserving that capacity will require more than resilience alone. It will require protecting researchers, rebuilding scientific infrastructure, replacing destroyed equipment and maintaining the conditions in which Ukrainian science can continue to generate knowledge – and turn it into the technologies and solutions the country needs to survive, defend itself, rebuild and shape its own future.