From the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and until September 2024, the aggressor country took the lives of 147 Ukrainian scientists. The Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences reported on these tragic losses on its Facebook page.
The death of scientists was the result of direct hostilities, attacks on temporarily occupied territories, as well as shelling of Ukrainian cities. Among the dead are two IMBG employees: chief engineer Maksym Pavlenko, who died on March 1, 2022 near Kyiv, and young scientist Vasyl Vdovin, who died on July 21, 2022 in Donbas.
Tragic cases when scientists who had already served before went to the front also attracted considerable attention. Biophysicist Bizhan Sharopov, who fought in 2014-2015 and went to the front again in 2022, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. His death was confirmed in January 2023 after numerous examinations.
Yulia Vashchenko, candidate of technical sciences, was shot by the occupiers together with her husband on March 8, 2022. Nataliya Loskutova, an associate professor of the department of philology, also died in Mariupol, who died from shrapnel wounds while standing in line for groceries.
Doctor of biological sciences Lyudmila Shevtsova died during a missile attack on Kyiv in early 2024.
These losses are only part of the great tragedy brought about by Russian aggression. As scientists note, this is a long list of names who became victims of the war.
