When Ukrainian forces retook the site of the Braude Radio Astronomy Observatory in September 2022 after forcing Russia to retreat, they found that the facility was still standing, but barely. Collapsed roofs, charred walls and empty shelves have all reduced this once proud observatory to ruins. The scars of occupation were everywhere; Russian troops had converted part of the partially built Ukrainian Giant Radio Telescope (GURT) into a makeshift kitchen and dumped the waste among the high-precision electronic devices.
The devastation seemed particularly cruel, given that the observatory was built about 75 kilometers from the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as a monument to the country’s astronomical research, dedicated to the peaceful exploration of the universe using one of the world’s largest radio telescopes. It was now another casualty of the ongoing conflict, a new entry in the ever-growing list of things to repair and rebuild.
More than four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war consumed everything. “I dreamed of becoming a scientist and one day returning to my village, visiting the school and telling children about the incredible and mysterious nature of the universe,” says Olena Kompaniiets, a young researcher at the Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. “But now the school is gone, and so is the village. There is nowhere to return.”
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoy this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
“I am happy to be Ukrainian and to support Ukraine in its terrible times,” says Daria Dobrycheva, cosmologist at the Main Astronomical Observatory. “I am proud of our country, which is fighting against one of the greatest armies in the world. It is truly a shame that the blood of our country’s best sons and daughters is being shed for our independence.”
Before the war, Ukraine was a major player in international astronomy and space science. The country has been home to its share of scientific heroes, such as Klim Churyumov, who co-discovered the comet visited by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, or Nikolai Barabashov, who co-wrote the paper that reported the first-ever image of the far side of the Moon in 1961. And of course, there was Sergei Korolev, the Ukrainian rocket engineer and founding father of the Soviet Union’s space program.
The country was once dotted with observatories and radio telescope arrays. Perhaps the biggest astronomical prize was the Ukrainian T-shaped radio telescope, second modification (UTR-2), completed at the Braude Radio Astronomy Observatory in 1972. UTR-2 is the largest ultra-low frequency radio telescope in the world, consisting of more than 2,000 individual antenna elements covering a total of more than 150,000 square meters of collecting area. Built alongside the UTR-2, the GURT was designed as a more modern installation intended to extend the pre-eminence of its sibling.
Rather, this was the plan before the invading Russian army seized the Braude Radio Astronomy Observatory for use as a temporary base, destroying much of UTR-2’s scientific equipment and using GURT’s parabolic reflectors as a mess hall. The ruins left after Ukrainian forces regained control were shocking but typical of modern warfare: of the 17 buildings initially there, all but one suffered significant damage. Virtually everything of value, from computers to cables, had been looted. Even the specialized copper cooling systems were removed from the instruments, presumably to be sold as scrap. Mines and munitions were strewn across the terrain, making many areas no-go zones until they were properly cleared.
Of course, the astronomical devastation of the war was not limited to Braude. In June 2025, the central building of the main astronomical observatory, located in downtown kyiv, was damaged by a nearby explosion. Some research and training centers, such as those belonging to the Odessa National University Astronomical Observatory, have been effectively abandoned due to their proximity to active combat zones. The overall result was the collective devastation of Ukrainian astronomy. The raw statistics collected in a recent report co-written by more than a dozen Ukrainian astronomers, including Kompaniiets, paints a grim picture:
In total, 1,443 buildings spread across 177 establishments: damaged.
Public research and development budget: reduced by half.
More than 10,000 researchers and professors: displaced.
The total number of researchers still in Ukraine is less than half of what it was before the war. And more than 1,500 Ukrainian researchers are living temporarily in other countries as members of the wartime diaspora.
Rubble lies in front of a phased array antenna of the Braude Radio Astronomy Observatory in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, November 16, 2023. The facility, which includes one of the world’s largest radio telescopes, was significantly damaged by Russian occupying forces before being reclaimed by Ukraine in September 2022.
Oleksandr Stavytskyy/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”https://www.scientificamerican.com/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
It will take generations for the country’s research body to recover, with observatories and universities struggling to pass on the institutional knowledge that has allowed astronomy to endure for millennia. The number of early-career scientists is down more than 40 percent from pre-war levels; most young people either fled the country or joined the war effort. The few students who remain today often spend part of their class time in bomb shelters, not classrooms.
“There is a doctoral student from our department who has been fighting since the first days of the war,” notes Dobrycheva. “He has a thesis ready to defend, but the war started and he went to the front… You can imagine: our army is made up of all the Ukrainian people…, where you can see graduate students, bakers, hairdressers, lawyers, judges and teachers.”
But the flame of Ukrainian space science has not gone out.
Despite the destruction – the loss of equipment, the flight of brilliant minds, and the diversion of resources to the war effort – thousands of astronomers remain in the country and continue their work.
“The war has affected each of us,” says Kompaniiets, but “like me, they cannot imagine their lives elsewhere.” Her husband and father serve in the military, and she and her friends run a volunteer organization that assembles tactical first aid kits for soldiers on the front lines. His once peaceful nights studying distant galaxies through telescopes are now busier, sometimes disrupted by power outages or violent bombings. And a university shared workspace in kyiv that she frequented no longer exists after a rocket struck nearby and severely damaged surrounding buildings.
For Kompaniiets and his peers who are still in Ukraine, astronomy has offered a strange kind of solace. “Being an astrophysicist was my childhood dream, a dream that, in this period of darkness, helps me to endure and move forward. My research has become a kind of meditation for me. It calms me, inspires me and helps me to continue,” she says.
No one expects the war to end soon. Russia has only increased its efforts to seize the country, and international support has wavered due to shifting political winds within and between Ukraine’s allies. But hope for the future still shines like the stars. After a year of repairs and mine clearance, the Braude Radio Astronomy Observatory reopened in October 2023 and resumed data collection. In the absence of a stable electricity network, the staff managed to install a small solar power plant to power the heart of the GURT telescope.
Despite the danger, the community persists. “In 2024, the Council of Young Scientists… launched the creation of a scientific school,” says Dobrycheva. “For me, this is a special reason for pride: even during the war, we managed to involve small businesses in supporting science… The school did not take place online; everyone was present at the event. This live communication gives joy and inspires strength.”
Scientists who were forced to leave their offices have now found new homes and shelters. And whether in Ukraine or elsewhere, some of them are participating in the development of post-war plans to reintegrate into the international community.
It won’t be easy. Repairs to science and university infrastructure will cost approximately $1.26 billion. But this work can also be accompanied by a renewal, even a rebirth. Astronomers now see new opportunities to build deeper ties with their European neighbors. The wartime diaspora has already brought thousands of young scientists to receptive host institutions across the continent; We hope that the end of the war will allow them to return home, where they can capitalize on these new relationships.
As the war rages, plans nevertheless emerge for postwar modernization of Ukraine’s observatories, many of which were built during the Soviet era. Discussions are already underway so that a “progressive recovery plan” is presented to the European Astronomical Society Conference 2026. The effort aims to move Ukraine away from its Soviet-era technical heritage and toward a full partnership with the European Southern Observatory, Europe’s largest and best astronomy consortium.
“I think this war will last for many years,” Dobrycheva concludes. “And what I can say for sure is that if I survive and see our victory, I will definitely drink a glass of alcohol, smoke a cigarette and cry, and then I will start working even harder. It’s hard now, but it will be even harder later because we will have to rebuild Ukraine.”
Whenever they can, researchers and engineers across the country will attempt to transform the dim but persistent glow of science into something even brighter. “Right now our state is focused on defense and survival. But to have something to rebuild after the war, we need to preserve it during the war,” Kompaniiets explains. “Science is no exception. I believe that without science, a strong country is impossible.”
