Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, has published an appeal to the international scientific community calling for an end to institutional cooperation with Russian academic and research institutions, including in joint research, scientific publications and editorial work. This is stated in a statement on the ministry’s website.
In an open letter, the ministries stress that Russia continues to systematically attack Ukraine’s scientific infrastructure, while Russian scientific institutions retain access to international research networks, academic publications and scientific resources.
In particular, on 28 September 2026 a Russian drone struck the building of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. As a result of the attack, two people were killed, seven were injured, and the building sustained significant damage.
In the appeal, Ukraine calls on international universities, research institutes, scientific societies and organisations that fund research to suspend joint scientific projects involving researchers who have an institutional affiliation with Russian academic and research institutions.
Particular attention is given to academic publishers, editorial boards and committees of international scientific journals. They are urged to introduce the practice of rejecting manuscripts without external peer review (desk rejection) if the authors are linked to Russian academic and research institutions. It is also proposed to suspend editorial duties for individuals who have a formal institutional affiliation with such institutions.
At the same time, the letter emphasises that the proposed measures concern institutional cooperation with Russian scientific organisations specifically, regardless of the citizenship, nationality or ethnic origin of individual researchers.
The ministry urged Ukrainian universities, scientific institutions, research organisations and the academic community to actively circulate the open letter among foreign partners, international scientific associations, academic publishers, and editorial boards and committees of scientific journals.