Dear Members of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society, dear international colleagues, dear friends,
The end of February marks some very special dates in our calendar. Twelve years since the sacrifice of the Heavenly Hundred and victory of the Revolution of Dignity. Twelve years since the start of the russian occupation of Crimea, marking another bloody episode in Ukraine’s 300-year-long fight for independence. The 4th anniversary of the full scale russian invasion, which brought unspeakable horrors and destruction onto the people and territory of Ukraine, yet unpunished – and thus letting the aggressor to continue.
DUAG was established to foster academic cooperation with Ukraine and improve knowledge about Ukraine by mobilising Ukrainian science diaspora and international community, with our first newsletter being published in February 2016, exactly 10 years ago. Then Germany was one of the leading research collaboration partners of Ukraine. Now, Germany is hosting probably the largest number of displaced Ukrainian researchers in Europe and strongly supports Ukrainian science and higher education sector to persist. We are grateful for very important collaborative initiatives like the German-Ukrainian Cores of Excellence, German-Ukrainian University Network, Centers for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies, Green Deal Ukraїna, (Virtual) Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study; for strong domestic and European support of individual scholars (e.g. through the Philipp Schwartz-Initiative and MSCA4Ukraine) and numerous university campus-wide initiatives all over Germany. We are also thankful to all German scholars raising their voices against centuries-old lies, fake news and propaganda aiming at depriving Ukrainians from their scientific achievements, their history, their writers, their arts. Last year also marked a new era in the military tech collaboration, bringing to Germany the newest and combat-proven technological developments and establishing new mutually beneficial partnerships. We are thankful to German partners and friends for their unwavering support.
Ukraine fights also for our Freedom. And we stand with Ukraine, strengthening our ties and supporting our colleagues in these turbulent times. For the victory of Good. Dignity and Freedom must prevail!