Statement on the invasion of Ukraine
Statement of the Board of the Academy of Sciences - Paris, February 28, 2022
French Academy of sciences wishes to express publicly its deep solidarity with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and, through them, with all Ukrainian scientists, youth and people, in the face of the ordeals they are going through as a result of the invasion of their country by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. The French Academy of Sciences also wishes to salute the courageous stand taken by many members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who have combined their signatures with those of several hundred scientists and scientific journalists from their country in an open letter denouncing the aggression of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and calling for its immediate cessation.
The courageous fight of the Ukrainian people shows that the denial of their existence by President Putin was only a falsification of history intended to justify a brutal aggression. It also shows us how many Ukrainians are ready to pay with their lives their attachment to freedom. International cooperation, in science as in many other fields, requires respect for freedom, the freedom of peoples to choose their future and their freedom to think and express themselves.
The French Academy of Sciences will work to ensure that the reception in Europe and in France of Ukrainian refugees, especially scientists, is worthy of our tradition.
The French Academy of sciences gratefully ackowledge the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (Portugal), the Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique (Belgique), the Accademia dei Lincei (Italie) et l’Académie d’Athènes (Grèce) that issued a similar statement.
To have an overview of the scientific reactions to the invasion of Ukraine:
• International Science Council (ISC): https://council.science/current/news/statements-international-scientific-community-conflict-ukraine/
• Interacademy partnership (IAP): https://www.interacademies.org/news/iap-communique-ukraine
There are several initiatives of solidarity for Ukrainian scientists:
• “PAUSE” program in France: https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/programme-pause/PAUSE-Solidarite-Ukraine.htm
• “Science in exile” worldwide initiative: https://scienceinexile.org/