Ukrainian rescuers work on a residential building hit in Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 30, 2023. UNESCO said Monday in a new report the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technologies sustained the highest number of destroyed or damaged buildings at 61. File photo by Sergey Kozlov/EPA-EFE
March 12 (UPI) -- It will cost more than $1 billion to rebuild Ukraine's public scientific infrastructure, according to a new United Nations report that found nearly 1,500 buildings belonging to scientific institutions have been damaged or destroyed during the last two years of war.
The report, published Monday by the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known as UNESCO, found that 1,443 buildings and laboratories belonging to 177 institutes and universities have been either damaged or destroyed by the war along with more than 750 pieces of research equipment.
The organization estimates that $1.26 billion will be required to restore the public science research infrastructure, including $980 million for universities that are responsible for 52% of public research.
"As the situation becomes more and more critical for the scientific community, we must protect and support their research in Ukraine," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.
"Scientists, engineers and other experts will be essential to the country's recovery, not to mention what this sector represents as a valuable source of innovation and discovery for the rest of the world."
According to the report, the war has had far-reaching implications on Ukraine's scientific infrastructure, which was once internationally renowned, especially concerning computer science, nuclear physics and astronomy.
A total 10,429 Ukrainian scientists and university teachers have either become internally displaced or were forced to emigrate because of the war, it said, adding that 1,518 scientists have volunteered for combat.
The budget for the National Academy of Sciences has also seen a 48% drop from $238.6 million in 2021 to its current $124. 8 million. The war also appears to be affecting the number of articles published in international journals by the National Academy of Sciences, with the report stating there was a drop of 7% between 2021 and last year.
According to the report, the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technologies sustained the highest number of destroyed or damaged buildings at 61, followed by the Institute of Single Crystals with 41 and the Subbotin Institute of Geophysics at 29.
The report also raises concerns over the situation at the Institute of Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants near Zaporizhzhia, which has been occupied by Russia since early in the war and is home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
The report states that all scientific equipment used to monitor the country's nuclear industry has been either destroyed or damaged.
"The loss of the institute's scientific equipment could endanger the nuclear safety and health of more than 2 billion inhabitants of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia," the report said.
The announcement came after UNESCO last month said Ukraine's culture and tourism sector has lost more than $19 billion in revenue because of the war with the amount of damage sustained by its cultural property amounting to nearly $3.5 billion.
The U.N. organization said that nearly $9 billion will be needed over the next decade to rebuilt the sector.
The Ukrainian government said in September that 823 cultural heritage sites have been either damaged or destroyed, including 109 sites of national importance, 650 of local important and 64 that were recently discovered.
