Paul Nurse

On May 5th 2023, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the new “Education and science” direction on the UNITED24 fundraising platform.

“The “Education and Science” direction is incredibly important, because as of today nearly 3000 educational facilities have already been destroyed by russian forces. They target them deliberately. It will take much work to ensure the safety of our children in the current circumstances, including during distance learning. But we are prepared for it, emphasized Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The first ambassador in this direction was the British scientist and winner of the Nobel prize in philology and medicine, Sir Paul Nurse.

He had gone to Ukraine and personally witnessed the scale of destruction with his own eyes. In particular, he visited a school in Buzova village, which is in Kyiv region. The village suffered greatly from the russian forces’ attempts to capture Kyiv in spring of 2022.

“It’s a wreck. It’s a complete wreck. There has been restoration, but it needs so much more work. When I was walking ‘round, there was lots of rubble, and I found this [picture]. It’s a child’s painting. In it is a mother cradling a baby, surrounded by sunflowers, important for Ukraine, surrounded by these white birds. This was such a contrast to the destruction and the rubble. This is a statement of the future,” he described his impressions.

Thanks to fundraising for the reconstruction of schools in Krasylivka and Katyuzhanka, children from these villages are returning to their studies.

On August 5, 2023, Sir Paul Nurse joined the Game4Ukraine charity match at Stamford Bridge Stadium in London. The Nobel Prize laureate, together with Chelsea FC board member Barbara Charone, presented special medals to the participants of the match. Each medal contains a fragment of the Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky School building, which will be rebuilt thanks to the charity game. The medals were awarded as a token of gratitude for supporting 415 Ukrainian children who will be able to return to their education.

The schools of tens of thousands of children across Ukraine are still in need of reconstruction.

Join the fundraising efforts.