As a long-standing US member of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, I find your assessment of the country’s science revolution overly gloomy (Nature 566, 162–163; 2019).

Early-career scientists are leading the charge for new ideas. Institutes now have more freedom, and some have done quite well — particularly in attracting outside funding and keeping young researchers in the country. Notable changes have occurred in the Institute of Monocrystals and its affiliates in Kharkiv, for example. And Ukraine is known worldwide for its information technology, which provides jobs for thousands of graduates as well as boosting the country’s economy.

Since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation in 2014, Ukraine has lost 27 universities, institutes and higher-education organizations, its most modern observatory and over 95% of its oceanographic facilities. Rebuilding scientific careers has been hard. However, the Ukrainian government has continued to support science during this time. Rather than bemoaning the doubling of academy funds since 2016 as “not enough”, we should be considering how this extra funding can best be used to further Ukrainian science.

Western organizations such as the American Physical Society have been at the forefront in assisting Ukraine, most recently in helping scientists displaced by the war in the east. The country’s scientific community would also benefit from more engagement with the European Union.