At the Vernadsky research base, a crew of 12 Ukrainians watch from thousands of miles away as their country is battered by Russian attacks.
In an unexpected turn of events the Ukrainian War has cast its specter in the southernmost reaches of Earth. The Vernadsky Research Base is a Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island in the Argentine Islands, not far from Kyiv Peninsula. The region is under territorial claims between three countries (see Territorial claims in Antarctica). The single Ukrainian Antarctic station is named after the mineralogist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945) who was the first president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
A British research base was established in 1947 and transferred to Ukraine in 1996. Coordination and operational administration of the base is conducted by the National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine which is part of Ministry of Education and Sciences of Ukraine. The closest Antarctic stations are Palmer Station of the United States and Yelcho Base of Chile, reopened in 2015.
