The 30th Ukrainian expedition has set off to Antarctica: a record number of women in the team
Kyiv • UNN
13 Ukrainian polar explorers, including 4 women, have departed for the "Akademik Vernadsky" station for a year-long expedition. The team will conduct scientific research and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the station's transfer to Ukraine.
The 30th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition has started: today, March 8, 2025, its participants have left Kyiv for the "Akademik Vernadsky" station, reports UNN referring to the National Antarctic Scientific Center.
By bus, the participants will reach Poland, and from there by planes to South America. Then, aboard our icebreaker "Noosphere", they will head to Antarctica through the world's stormiest strait, the Drake Passage.
At "Vernadsky", the 30th UAE is set to replace the previous annual expedition and will operate until April 2026.
It is symbolic that the team begins its journey on International Women's Day, as in the 30th UAE, as well as in the previous 29th, there is a record number of women — four. Moreover, this expedition is a jubilee, and next year it will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its transfer to Ukraine from Great Britain at the station. We are proud that despite all the difficulties and the full-scale war, we continue to participate in global science
In the 30th UAE, there are 13 participants: 8 scientists, a doctor, a cook, a system administrator, a systems mechanic, and a diesel-electric engineer (we published the list of names earlier).
They will conduct geophysical, meteorological, and biological research, as well as maintain the station's infrastructure.
The team is led by experienced polar explorer and meteorologist Oleksandr Poluden. He is going to winter in Antarctica for the sixth time.
Before departure, the expedition took a traditional photo near the monument to Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, although it is currently surrounded by a protective structure.
"We wish our polar explorers a good journey, smooth takeoffs, and gentle landings, and a calm Drake Passage. We hope that in a year they will return to a peaceful, independent Ukraine. And, of course, we eagerly await the return home of the participants of the 29th expedition", - noted at the National Academy of Sciences.
Photo: Synhaewsky Ruslan