From the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to 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 of the Republic of Ukraine reported on these tragic losses on its Facebook page.
The deaths of scientists were a result of direct hostilities, attacks on temporarily occupied territories, and shelling of Ukrainian cities. Among the dead were 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 of scientists who had previously served in the military going to the front have also attracted considerable attention. Biophysicist Bizhan Sharopov, who fought in 2014-2015 and returned to the front in 2022, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. His death was confirmed in January 2023 after numerous examinations.
Yulia Vashchenko, a candidate of technical sciences, was shot by the occupiers along with her husband on March 8, 2022. Nataliya Loskutova, an associate professor at the Department of Philology, also died in Mariupol, dying 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 just part of the great tragedy brought by Russian aggression. As scholars point out, this is a long list of names who became victims of the war.
