Penguins are not to blame: is it reasonable to allocate millions for science in Ukraine during the war?
27 May 2024 18:05
Ukraine’s budget has allocated $11.6 million for scientific research related to Antarctic expeditions, including the use of the Noosphere oceanographic research vessel. The relevant tender was published on the Prozorro website, reports Kommersant Ukrainsky 
The tender was ordered by the National Antarctic Scientific Centre, whose director is ATO veteran and former deputy platoon commander of the 24th BTO Aidar Yevhen Dykyi. The deadline for the supply of goods and performance of works is 28 February 2025. The services will be provided by the Estonian company WINOT OU.
according to the published documentation, $11.6 million is to be spent on technical equipment, food and transportation of scientists.
The food includes several hundred bottles of wine and champagne and several kilograms of chocolate, as well as 28 kg of octopus, 140 kg of salmon steak, 4 kg of caviar, etc. The amount of money spent from the state budget on Antarctic research and the purchase of such goods for researchers has stirred up social media. The main question of social media users is whether such expenditures are appropriate in times of war and whether it would be better to spend the money on drones for the Armed Forces
Yevhen Dykyi himself responded to the criticism of the expenditure on the expedition from the state budget. On his Facebook page, he stated that the hate against the procurement was launched because of his statements about the disrupted mobilisation and tolerance of evasion. In the post, he stressed that food for researchers is purchased once a year, which is why, he said, such amounts were needed.
“We take into account that this is a purchase for the entire winter, that is, once a year. We pick up a calculator, carry out simple operations, and get the following: wine of all kinds together – 45 grams per person per day, or 316 grams per person per week; that is, a Ukrainian polar explorer can drink as many as two glasses (not even carafes, but glasses) of dry wine once at the end of the working week; 10 grams of chocolate per day; 4 grams and 14 grams of candy and bars per day, respectively. Does anyone think this is obscene luxury and gluttony? Please apply for our competition, work through the winter, and then tell us if your opinion has changed.”
– Dykyi wrote and added that Western funds are strictly prohibited for military use, meaning they cannot be spent on drones, or on additional payments to soldiers, or even on digging fortifications.
It should be added that this is not the first time that such sums have been included in tenders for Antarctic exploration. Last year, the state budget allocated $11.7 million to support the Ukrainian Antarctic station Akademik Vernadsky and scientific expeditions, and $1.5 million in 2022.
Ukraine’s role in Antarctic research
The Vernadsky Research Station (formerly Faraday Station) is the only Ukrainian Antarctic station located at Cape Marina on Galindez Island. It is a permanent meteorological and geophysical observatory. It was founded in 1947 as the British Faraday station, but in February 1996, the UK transferred it to Ukraine free of charge, as Russia refused to transfer any stations to Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR.
In 2021, the National Antarctic Science Centre (NASC) acquired the legendary British Antarctic Survey icebreaker James Clark Ross. It has been renamed Noosphere, and since winter 2022, it has been providing scientific and logistical support to Ukrainian scientists and the Akademik Vernadsky station.
To date, the Centre has organised and supported 28 Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions and continuous work and research at the station. This year, on 11 March, the 29th Ukrainian Antarctic expedition set off from Kyiv to the Akademik Vernadsky station: for the first time in 27 years, 4 women will work in the expedition.
