The National Institute for Strategic Studies’ Appeal to Academic Community

Dear Colleagues!

Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies was established 30 years ago. In the course of all these years, we have been contributing to the establishment and development of our independent country. We have shaped strategies and policies designed for building a peaceful life in a free and independent European Ukraine. For the European prospect. For the development of the country’s regions. Cohesion. Sustainability. Digital country. Green economy.

Peace in Ukraine was demolished in the early morning of February 24, when the Russian Federation encroached on our country and endangered everything we have: our women, children, our plans, future, life itself.  Kharkiv — a city of over one million residents — is on fire. Kyiv — home to several million, a city with more than fifteen hundred years of history and the capital of our country, which has concluded an Association Agreement with the European Union — is subject to constant missile strikes. Kherson, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Sumy, Mykolayiv are under attack. Air raid sirens are heard almost everywhere across Ukraine.  Hundreds of civilians including children have already lost their lives. In response, people have risen to defend their state, freedom, dreams, dignity, the right to exist and the right to their Ukrainian identity. As on Maidan in 2014, they are defending their European choice. Except that now the whole country has turned into a single enormous Maidan. And the whole of Ukraine is the front line that protects European values ​​from a rabid enemy. We believe that Ukraine will withstand this maelstrom.

At this particular time, Ukraine has appealed to the European Union to fast-track its membership bid. Can anyone be considered a greater European than one who sacrifices his or her life for European values?

Concurrently, Ukraine’s struggle is a struggle for the whole civilized democratic and liberal world, for its values and sustainable development. It is a time of consolidation and unity for all progressive forces in the world for the sake of our common future. This is a time of unity and consolidation not limited to politicians, diplomats, artists and community leaders. It is also a time of unity for the academic community.

We turn to our colleagues from all over the world, with whom our Institute has had the honor to cooperate all these years, with whom we have collaborated at academic, public and political forums, with whom we have analysis, conducted face-to-face and virtual debates.

Ukraine needs the support of the academic community around the world now.

Please stop cooperating with Russian research institutions.

Terminate individual fellowships, revoke the alumni status and limit the publication possibilities for Russian researchers who support this aggression.

Stop grant funding for Russian research institutions.

Disseminate trustworthy information about what is happening in Ukraine today.

We appeal to our Ukrainian and foreign colleagues with the request to coordinate efforts to elaborate quick research-based solutions under the conditions of war on the territory of a modern European state with a complex economic, communication and social infrastructure.

What should a road map for the implementation of the fast-track procedure of joining the EU, upon the political decision, be like?

How can the world community provide a systematic non-military response to the aggressor state?

How can we achieve economic stability in time of war? 

How can we prevent the collapse of information, energy and transport infrastructure? How can we protect the population and address humanitarian issues?

How can we optimize self-organization and interaction of communities?

These are fundamentally new challenges for each of us. Europe has not seen wars of this magnitude since 1945. However, we believe that in the 21st century, there are things stronger than cynical brute force. In fact, our common strength is our minds.

Researchers of the National Institute for Strategic Studies
Kyiv, Ukraine, March 3, 2022