Ukrainian polar explorers will get an icebreaker: the Cabinet of Ministers allocates funds
"Akademik Vernadsky" Station in sunny weather. Photo: Yevhen Prokopchuk
On July 7, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated funds for the purchase of a research ship for Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions.
The National Antarctic Research Center announced this on Facebook, Rubryka reports.
Purchasing its own ship will help solve logistical problems at the Akademik Vernadskyi Station, as Ukraine is still forced to charter foreign vessels every year to deliver annual and seasonal expeditions and cargo.
"Ukraine is one of 30 countries in the world that have year-round stations in Antarctica. The study and development of the world's oceans are one of the main trends in science and technology in today's globalized world, and at one time Ukraine had significant achievements and accomplishments in marine research," Minister of Education and Science Serhii Shkarlet said.
Own oceanographic icebreakers will allow to work not only in Antarctica, but also in the Arctic in the future, and, if necessary, in other ocean regions.
Director of the National Antarctic Research Center Yevhen Dykyi explained the situation in the example of participants of the 25th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition, who had a hard time getting to the station due to a pandemic.
"The shift was in danger of failure, and the road lasted more than a month. Therefore, when on February 6 this year the polar explorers of the 25th UAE talked to the President of Ukraine directly from the station for the first time in history, the expedition members answered his question without much hesitation: their own icebreaker," he recalls.
Then Volodymyr Zelenskyi promised that the state would do everything necessary to purchase the ship and set the task of the Office of the President and the Government to work out a solution together.
"We're very grateful! We hope for further support of people's deputies, members of the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada," Yevhen Dykyi stressed.
Shortly, the Government's decision will be approved by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Budget, after which the polar explorers will receive the ship.
