Call to the international scientific and R&D community

On 24 February 2022 Russian Federation launched an insidious and shameful military attack on Ukraine. In the very centre of Europe cruise missiles with cluster munitions and vacuum bombs banned in the civilised world are destroying residential areas, kindergartens, hospitals and civil infrastructure. As of 3 March, over 2,000 civilians were killed and over one million people took refuge in other countries. This is a war of a scale unseen in Europe since 1945, and the whole world is watching it happen.

Currently, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is under control of the occupying forces. The aggressor’s troops threaten the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe. President of Russia has threatened the world with nuclear weapons.

We are grateful to our allies for imposing economic and political sanctions on the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian Armed Forces demonstrates incredible courage and resilience to repel the invasion. However, we believe the global scientific community must also intervene to stop the aggressor.

Military power in XXI century directly depends on solutions and technologies that originate from R&D labs. Access to high technologies, innovations, scientific research, and exchange gives a huge advantage in modern warfare. We need your support to strip Russia of this advantageuntil it fully withdraws from Ukraine and is held accountable for its war crimes.

We, the Ukrainian scientific community, ask you to protect Ukraine by taking the following steps:

• Block access of Russian residents and state institutions to all scientometric databases and materials of scientific publishers;
• Exclude state-funded researchers and science organisations in Russia from science and technology cooperation programmes, especially those related to chemistry, biotech micro-electronics, aerospace, and satellites;
• Exclude scientific institutions affiliated to the Russian state from participation in international grant programmes funded by the EU and other partners;
• Suspend participation of researchers, students, and state institutions from Russia in international academic mobility programmes;
• Boycott attempts to organise international scientific events (conferences, symposia) in Russia, and events in other countries that are linked to or funded by Putin’s regime and Russian capital;
• Refuse Russian citizens opportunities to edit, co-edit or review of international scientific publications.

Please help Ukraine by communicating your commitment to this statement publicly and encourage your peers to follow your example.

We have the power to stop the bloodshed and war. Let’s combine our efforts and end Russia’s war on freedom, democratic values, truth, and the whole civilised world.

Sincerely,

The Ukrainian scientific community