They are dedicated to measurements, observations, analysis. They strive to make their work “the best possible” as a “contribution” to their country. They are the Ukrainian scientists at the Vernadsky base in Antarctica, where they suffer helplessly from the war.
“In the beginning, we had several sleepless nights. All the time we were trying to find out what was the situation in our respective cities. Now, we check the news when we wake up and before going to sleep, in every spare hour,” Anastasiia Chyhareva, a meteorologist, told AFP. 26-year-old, in a written and videotaped message.
The Vernadsky base is located on GalÃndez Island, 1,200 kilometers from the Argentine city of Ushuaia (Terra del Fuego) and more than 15,000 kilometers from Ukraine. The station has a team of between 11 and 13 people.
Here, populated by penguins and whales, half a dozen low-rise buildings rise under the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine amid a majestic landscape of snow, ocean and rocks, with unstable and treacherous weather and temperatures ranging from 1 to -3°C in autumn and can drop to -20°C in winter.
The work consists of meteorological, geophysical, geological and biological observation. Sometimes, snowstorms force young scientists to isolate themselves for several days at their base. War, geographically distant, is always present in his thoughts.
another planet
For geophysicist and data analyst Oleskandr Koslokov the first impression was “as if all this happened on another planet, not our world”.
“This feeling was generated by my absence from Ukraine. (…) But my wife’s voice when she told me about the first explosions in Kharkiv on WhatsApp, put me in the center of the place in just a minute”, he recalled.
“So I started to advise my family on how to act. I didn’t have time to reflect. I had to help them survive and escape my city, just 40 kilometers from the Russian border, before it turned into an unpredictable hell.” added Koslokov, whose family members have found refuge in Germany.
Biologist Artem Dzhulai, 34, a Kiev native with family elsewhere in Ukraine and Crimea, also said he was on high alert. “I find out about the situation in Ukraine every day through the Internet. But it’s hard to be so far away and not be able to help”, he lamented.
Chyhareva explained that she gets up at 2 am (7 am in Ukraine) “to find out how you spent the night. I can’t start my day if I don’t get a text saying everything is fine,” she said. His parents and grandparents had to sleep for many nights in a shelter.
Marine biologist Oksana Saveko sums up the group’s feelings. “At the base, we oscillate between sadness, due to anguish for the fate of our family and friends, and strong joy for the pride we feel for our Army and our people, who fight bravely for the right to live in a free country.”
Science as a contribution
This team will leave Antarctica in a few days, after a year at the base. His replacement is already in the transition process.
In these weeks, they made an effort to help with donations, collection of signatures or online courses to entertain Ukrainian children. But they consider that their main contribution is to fulfill their scientific mission.
“We do our best work. It’s our contribution to this war, because those in combat don’t have time for it,” Chyhareva said.
Dzhulai draws attention to “the indifference of democratic countries” when Crimea was annexed to Russia in 2014. “They probably thought they would not be affected. Europe still does not suffer directly, but everything can change if the evil is not stopped and punished.” , warned.
Savenko, a Kiev native, said her family is happy to know that she is “far away and safe, despite not having seen me in a year”.
She doesn’t know when they will meet again. With the samples she collected in Antarctica, Saveenko plans to work in the United States in the coming months.
Chyhareva wants to return to Ukraine as soon as possible, but has no plans and would like to work in Europe for a few months as a scientist. “I don’t see myself as a refugee,” she said.
Koloskov knows he will not be able to return to Kharkiv. “My university and the institute where I worked were destroyed,” he said. He will meet his family in Germany and then try to continue his scientific work in Europe or the United States. “Time will tell,” he concluded.
