The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, calls on the international scientific community to end institutional cooperation with Russian academic and research institutions, particularly in joint research, scientific publishing, and editorial activities.

In an open letter, the ministries emphasize that Russia continues to systematically attack Ukraine’s scientific infrastructure, while Russian research institutions retain access to international research networks, academic journals, and scientific resources.

On 28 September 2026, a Russian drone struck the building of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. The attack killed two people, injured seven others, and caused significant damage to the building.

“Russia is systematically destroying Ukraine’s scientific infrastructure, while its research institutions continue to benefit from international academic cooperation. This situation is unacceptable. We call on our international partners to move from statements of solidarity to concrete action — ending joint research with Russian institutions and restricting their participation in international scientific publishing and editorial activities. Scientific cooperation must be based on the principles of accountability and academic integrity,” said Denys Kurbatov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

In its appeal, Ukraine calls on international universities, research institutes, scientific societies, and research funding organisations to suspend joint research projects involving researchers affiliated with Russian academic and research institutions.

Particular attention is given to academic publishers, editorial boards, and the editorial teams of international scientific journals. They are urged to introduce a policy of rejecting manuscripts without external peer review (desk rejection) when the authors are affiliated with Russian academic and research institutions. The letter also calls for the suspension of editorial duties performed by individuals with formal institutional affiliations with such institutions.

At the same time, the letter stresses that the proposed measures concern institutional cooperation with Russian research organisations, regardless of the citizenship, nationality, or ethnic origin of individual researchers.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine calls on Ukrainian universities, research institutions, research organisations, and the academic community to actively share the open letter with international partners, international scientific associations, academic publishers, editorial boards, and journal editorial teams. It is essential that the appeal reach the widest possible international audience and serve as a basis for concrete institutional decisions to end cooperation with Russian research institutions.

The full text of the open letter is available here.