President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set the government the task of developing a full-fledged long-term program for the revival of Ukrainian research fleet.
The head of state said this during a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Odessa, Office of the President informs.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine has begun to rebuild its scientific fleet.
“We pass on to the scientists of our Antarctic station “Academician Vernadsky” icebreaker James Clark Ross. So far she has such a name. But most importantly, she was purchased by the state. This is the first time. I don’t consider it a feat, but the news is really good. Ukraine is a member of prestigious world clubs of space and Antarctic states. And today Ukraine is returning or is beginning to return to the World Ocean” – the President said.
Read also: Icebreaker James Clark Ross arrived to Odesa (PHOTOS)
The President stressed that the World Ocean is the area where the most scientific discoveries are taking place in the 21st century, and in order to have a worthy place in this space, our country must build its ships.
In view of this, Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that he expects from the Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet a full-fledged, large-scale program of revival of the research fleet of Ukraine for the next 5-10 years.
“We offer to set such a high bar, it is not easy, but it is very logical. 36 scientific vessels, 12 of them ocean-going, ice class. You ask why so much? This is a very symbolic figure. Everything is simple. This is the number of ships that were part of the Ukrainian scientific fleet in 1991. When I became president, when our team appeared, there were zero scientific vessels in Ukraine. In 30 years, 36 ships have been lost” – he said.
Earlier, the Belgian government transferred the research vessel “Belgica” to the Ukrainian scientific center of Ecology of Sea.