A future for Ukrainian science

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth month, Russian forces continue to destroy the nation's scientific institutions and infrastructure, signaling Russia's intent to obliterate the future for Ukraine. In Kharkiv, for instance, the renowned Institute of Physics and Technology and its newly built Neutron Source nuclear facility have been heavily damaged. Even the Plant Production Institute with its underground national seed bank-one of the world's largest-has been bombed. At the Chernobyl nuclear labs, Russian forces have looted or destroyed hundreds of computers, radiation dosimeters, and irreplaceable software and equipment. Although the response to each international science crisis is necessarily unique, the US National Academy of Sciences is once again joining with international and regional partners to support beleaguered colleagues, as it did last year in the successful extraction and resettlement of Afghanistan scientists at risk from the Taliban. To that end, the national science academies of Poland, Ukraine, and the United States recently convened a meeting of leaders from several national science academies (including the presidents of Germany's Leopoldina science academy, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the ALLEA European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, and leaders from the Royal Society of the United Kingdom) to explore how the global science community can best help Ukraine. The resulting 10-point action plan for the world's research community aims to help meet several immediate needs and also provide the building blocks for revitalizing Ukrainian science in the future.