In his letter to international partners of Ukraine’s Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), Prof. Sergii Sydorenko, Vice-Rector for International Collaboration, said that on 24 February 2022 at 4:30 a.m., the Russian Federation announced a military operation in Ukraine. Heavy shelling is underway amid Russia’s invasion of the country.
Russian troops bombard towns and cities, targeting civilian areas. The death toll among civilians has grown to thousands including 263 children. Ukraine’s rural population is terrorized, looted and abused. Moreover, cruise missiles pounded the cities of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk and Rivne in the western part of Ukraine. Hundreds of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups conduct subversive activities in towns and cities. In the city of Kharkiv, Russian invaders bombarded the Assumption Cathedral where civilians were sheltering. According to Ukrainians, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a crazy infidel.
About 10,000 Ukrainian students, teachers, and about 500 international students are sheltering in the basements of dormitories and educational buildings.
People cannot imagine that a full-scale war is possible in the geographical center of Europe, namely Ukraine, a country with a population of 40 million, five nuclear power plants, and nuclear waste storage facilities. Russian invaders now control the Chernobyl and Zaporizhia nuclear power plants.
Under the circumstances, Kyiv Polytechnic administration is carrying out due measures to ensure the safety of students and staff. Of 400 international students or so, 10 remain on the university campus today. They live in dormitories in charge of the staff of the Center for International Education and the Education Department.
Thanks to cyber security experts and tech workers, all 134 main websites of the University are under round-the-clock protection.
Under Russia’s threats and enormous pressure, KPI appreciates sincerely the support of its international partners in the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, France, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and many other countries.
KPI is very grateful to the international community for the strong condemnation of Russia’s premeditated and unjustified aggression that Ukraine is repelling today.
“We are in need of support and emergency aid from the international community, civil society, scientists, all democratic forces,” Sergii Sydorenko wrote. “Ukrainian people are sacrificing themselves for the just cause, fighting for freedom and democracy not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe and the world.”