Twelve Ukrainians Stuck in Antarctica

The Ukrainian mission in Antarctica

Twelve Ukrainian scientists are stuck in Antarctica, about 9500 miles from Kyiv.

They are part of the Vernadsky Station, Ukraine’s only research base in Antarctica and home to 12 scientists, engineers, and support staff who were nearing the end of a 13-month-long expedition when Russia invaded.

Back home, their fellow countrymen are fighting a gruesome war against foreign aggression and their family members are in peril.

They feel like they can be more useful in Ukraine, fighting or providing support — instead of being in Antarctica. However, their replacements are not going to join them. And they have no means to go back immediately.

Also, the Antarctician summer is about to close and the temperatures will soon plummet.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia declared itself the sole owner of the former Soviet Union’s five research stations in Antarctica and denied Ukraine’s request to take over the operation of one of the bases.

Instead, the British government offered to sell what was then called the Faraday station to the Ukrainian government for a symbolic £1.

Since then, the station has been permanently staffed by at least a dozen Ukrainians.

This is the 26th such mission since 1996.

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