Fighting on two fronts

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1:08Science in Antarctica, science in general, is the future.

1:21It's one of the side of the future that we are fighting for.

1:32We need to survive.

1:47I'm Harrison Lewis.

1:52Not long ago, I was in Kiev, Ukraine. This office was also destroyed during 2022 There I met a group of remarkable people fighting on two fronts against the violence tearing through their country and against another, slower moving catastrophe climate change Yevgen was not there, it was at 8am Yevgen came at 9am and 9am already was all destroyed so thanks God he was not here at 8am We were very happy which is our national museum.

2:35The National Antarctic Scientific Centre, or NASC, sits in the heart of Kiev, at a busy crossroads where the noise of daily life drowns out any thoughts of war.

2:49In many ways, it's a symbol of something far larger, A country fighting to hold on to its future, even as invaders push deeper into its land. Against extraordinary odds, the centre has survived, and not just survived, but continue to play a vital role in global climate research. While bombs have fallen, their scientists have kept working, tracking the changes in our planet and helping to protect a future that belongs to us all. I want to share their story how, in the middle of war a small group of Ukrainians have refused to give up on the rest of the world I want them to tell you in their own words how their remarkable determination has kept the National Antarctic Science Centre at the forefront of climate science when everything else around them has been under threat

3:51My name is Anastasia Chihriva. I am a meteorologist focusing on studying atmospheric processes in polar regions. Anastasia is one of the climate scientists at NASC, currently working in Kyiv. Now, guys, we have to face realities that climate is changing. It's sometimes easy to forget that human-induced climate change is the greatest threat the modern world has ever faced. Anastasia told me the poles are among the best places in the world for studying and understanding these changes. Because polar regions is actually drivers of global atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation. It is drivers of global climate.

4:40So it is crucial to understand what's going on. Predictions for global warming keep getting worse. Climate change. Climate change. Climate change. We are starting to see an acceleration of warming. Human action is leading to an increase in average temperatures. Despite the Paris Agreement made in 2015 to limit that same warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, it's now predicted that by 2029, the five-year average temperature could be up to 1.9 degrees Celsius. Glaciers are melting faster, sea level rise is accelerating and heat waves are more frequent. Here in Kyiv, as air raid alerts sound through the night, apartment blocks are rebuilt to erase the scars of last week's bombing, and families grieve their losses.

5:32Scientists at the NASC continue their work, documenting the changing climate, gathering vital data to help the world understand and to fight for a future on a warming planet. We have the best meteorological station in Ukraine and one of the best meteorological stations in Antarctica. And could you tell me whereabouts this station is? So if you will zoom the map of Antarctica down to the south from South America, so we can see Antarctic Peninsula there. And approximately around the middle of Antarctic Peninsula, to the west of the mountains, we have a very lovely place called Vernask Base. So it is the best place in the world.

6:22There's some feeling, like when you visited your grandma's house during Christmas holidays. It's like, base is really cozy.

6:41Despite the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Zoya Shvitka is currently stationed at Vernatsky base. Our station is 70 years old already. She gave me a tour over WhatsApp. It was made of wood, so it's quite nice because it's warm inside and the walls are quite thin. So where it's storm outside or strong wind or snow, you can hear that inside. When you walk or somebody else, you can hear the floor is creaking and I like that sound.

7:20And here we have a long, long corridor, which leads to all the rooms here. The station used to be called Faraday. It was once British, but handed over to Ukraine in the late 1990s. I think the only one place which has no reminders about its British past is our dining room. Because here we have maps of Ukraine and some symbols of our country. The new owners have made it their own. But there are still glimpses of the past, with carvings of animals on doorways and framed pictures of old expeditions. I've never been in Great Britain, but those people who are from there or visited local pubs said that ours looks like an authentic British one.

8:04That's right. There's also a pub, with a pool table and tottering board games stacked up high on the shelves. Zoya told me that they play golf sometimes when extreme weather stops them from going outside. hitting the ball from an office on the first floor, down the corridor and the stairs to the dining room. Let's take a step outside.

8:34Toes on our penguins.

8:40What could be heard is wind, what can we just do? It's a more phone. And also, you can hear the sound of ocean.

8:58At the base, the war feels distant. Vernatsky stands as a beacon of international relations, a stronghold for Ukrainian science. It serves as a reminder of the wider world beyond conflict. So it's no wonder that Anastasia, like so many other Ukrainian scientists, has fallen in love with it. So when I arrive in there, I feel myself at home and feel myself in a safe place where I know what to do, I know why it is important. and I have this routine and nice, interesting work, some nice people around. Nice people and remarkable scientists. Over decades, they've gathered some of the world's most valuable climate data.

9:48At Vernatsky Station, temperature records have been kept since 1947, one of the longest and most continuous data sets in the entire southern hemisphere. And that longevity matters. It's not enough to measure what's happening today. Without the past, there's no way to see the scale of change. The further back those records reach, and these stretch nearly 80 years, the stronger the proof of what's unfolding now. That's what the NASC is fighting to preserve from the edge of the world. I would say we nowadays contribute to very important researchers that actually studying impact of climate change on Antarctica and Antarctic response on climate change.

10:35And all together with our colleagues, we are doing great polar science. But it wasn't that long ago that this great polar science and the very future of the NASC was in jeopardy. So when the invasion started in 2022, it's changed everything and it's difficult to explain how everything is changed. Because a lot of friends and scientists land the front line. After months of waiting and predictions, Russia has launched a major military operation in Ukraine. Who can stop this war? Люди. People. President Vladimir Putin, speaking on national television, said he would authorize military operations.

11:33This struggle will define in what world our children and grandchildren will live. We must stop it before it's too late.

11:50In the beginning, you kind of don't understand what to do, where to run, run and fight, run to survive. I were on my way to Wernasca station. Full-scale invasion start in five o 'clock of morning. I was at home. As Anastasia boarded a ship to cross the Weddell Sea from South America to Antarctica, The director of the NASC, Evgen Dickey, and Alina Marashevska, were being woken from their beds. Maybe after three or four hours after that, I was on one of the points. Showing the passport, you would get AK because the authorities in the first day so far were not sure who will protect the capital. So it was just given just like this.

12:45People just get their weapon and try to learn from YouTube how to use it. And in the same time, I was on the phone because I understand we need to organize the... Despite the fact that the Russians were so close to Kiev, we still need to make a shift in Antarctica. But in these conditions, Evgen managed to arrange sending some people to the station and getting people out. But it was the whole adventure. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

13:28We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about. It's called the dark web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Move in now. Police! From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.

14:12I'm Tristan Redman in London and this is The Global Story. Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to put all the issues on the table that keep me up at night. The Interview. The best conversations from across the BBC. We're coming up against technology companies that are richer and more powerful than many nation states. with the people shaping our world. There are those that believe that the power of law should be replaced by the law of power. The interview from the BBC World Service.

14:53Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

15:01Ukraine was at war. Airspace was closed, ports were no longer safe and researchers, whether on their way to Venatsky base, like Anastasia, or already stationed on the island, found themselves cut off from the rest of the world. But at a makeshift checkpoint, phone pressed to his ear, Evgen refused to let the conflict stop science. He was coordinating with national teams in Antarctica to make sure his colleagues had the supplies they needed, while also arranging safe passage for other scientists, intended to visit the base in the months to come. Even amid the chaos of war, he was determined that Ukrainian research and the vital role it has in protecting the planet would continue.

15:46Yeah, we went to Vrnatsky station doing our job. And it is crazy how Antarctic Centre actually succeeded. So yeah, war started. And it was very difficult to be so removed from the families. from the situation when you have to follow all the news, but you can't help in any way except doing your work. In the NASC office in Kiev, Evgen and Alina told me of two polar scientists who were stationed at the base. When word of the invasion reached the expedition, they flagged down a passing cruise ship. The two men were on the front line within a week. So there was a Polish yacht who brought them to Chile and said, are you sure that you really want to go to Ukraine?

16:36Look, read the news. Are you sure that you want to go there? I said, yes, please bring us, bring us back. Were they conscripted or volunteered? It is different because, you know, if you are Antarctic scientist and if you have PhD, you are... Not only Antarctica. Yeah, if you are a scientist. But scientist and if you have PhD, you are not obliged to serve in the army. But we have several scientists who really wanted to come. Another guy who is already for three years in front, he is the son of an academician, and he himself writes PhD about some meteorological phenomena. And he was saying that he was, some of his scientific articles, he was already, you know, proofreading in front.

17:19I know it's not about polar guys, but about scientists. I know one mortar battery with five PhD guys. They joke, it's bad we have PhD in very different fields, because in another case we can organise PhD committee on our battery. Although scientists in Ukraine are not obliged to fight, many of them do. At the time of the invasion, meteorologist Ihor Artemenko had just returned from the 2021 Antarctic expedition. Now I am officer of the Ukrainian Army. Once monitoring atmospheric conditions over Antarctica, Ihor, like many of his colleagues, put his research on hold. Having now spent the entirety of the war on the front line, Vernatsky base at the South Pole is a distant memory.

18:17Around March, April 2024, I started having pay in my back and right leg. It was at this time that the enemy became active in our direction and there was no time for a serious examination. I spoke to him whilst he was in hospital, awaiting surgery.

18:52Ihor was self-medicating. He told me he had become one of the most experienced soldiers in his unit. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving them in the trenches alone.

19:07the trust of my neighbouring units. But his injury only worsened. In July, on top of everything, a flying bomb hit the house where I was, which most likely worsened the situation. It became clear that I had major problems with my spine. Asking those who had served on the front line while I was stationed in Kyiv, someone told me that Ihor was lucky. Typically, soldiers are either injured or killed within six months of deploying to the front line. In September, Ihor was sent back to the hospital. His injury is too severe. The doctors believe he'll regain movement in his right leg, but have suggested he undergoes rehabilitation for the next 12 months.

19:59I will not wait one year. I will plan to return to France about three months. Because every day, I die one of my comrades. They are my family too. As a science journalist, I've met countless researchers over the years. So often, they seem to set emotion aside. Their work demands it. Their job is to focus on facts, on evidence. But Ior told me that much to his dismay, this detachment, that scientific calm, has started to seep into every corner of his life. My close comrade died last night in the Liman area. I am sad, but I do not feel sharp pain. This is bad. I think after the war, I will have to do something about it.

21:02He was named Oleg. He was named Oleg. It may not come as a surprise, but it's still painful to hear Anastasia echo her colleague. Even those far away from the front lines are having to adapt, to distance themselves emotionally, just to survive. After three years of full-scale invasion, you became less emotional. It's, you know, when you read news after every night missile attack and you hear news that people were killed in their bed. And you can imagine people who had tomorrow, few hours before, and now they're killed.

21:50When you're not on frontline, you still live in stress. during the summer, the intensity of missiles attack on Kiev was so huge, I really was not productive. You're not getting recovered. So almost every second night, you don't sleep and listen to some kind of attack. And when you don't sleep normally, you're getting exhausted. And you have to do your work and be creative and think in details about something, but you actually don't have energy to it. With many of the male scientists abandoning their research to fight in the war, and those researchers who remained under extreme stress, the NASC faced a new challenge.

22:41Sat with Evgen and Alina across a boardroom table in the headquarters of the NASC, I asked how they coped with the loss of such experienced scientists. scientists how did and how would they ensure the future of Ukrainian science in Antarctica. Now we have more females at the station because men are all in front or doing other jobs. And talking about qualification, of course, some of the people who are now in France, they are very qualified. Some of them are really unique in their qualification. That's why to lose them would mean losing some direction of the science. You mentioned there was more women now working with you.

23:21Yeah, there are more women who apply for the wintering team. Were they underrepresented before? Does that feel like women are getting more of a voice now in research? It's more that there is lack of people everywhere and there is more females who have to apply for some male jobs. You can see that there are even more taxi drivers in Kiev become females. Even people who are in building companies, you come and you see females, because normally you don't see it in the construction works. There are a lot of women now as coal miners in the Donbass region. Before the war, it's only totally men's work.

24:06Before the war, Vernatsky Base was a trailblazer in promoting gender equality in polar science. And today that legacy shines even brighter, with women like Zoya leading the charge. They have taken up the torch, carrying forward the vital work of recording and understanding our changing climate. We have September now. It's the beginning of Antarctic spring and should be similar to March in Ukraine. But in the very beginning of September, we had heavy rain here and a huge amount of snow has melted. What is bad here is also that rain causes ice peaks and glaciers to melt. So huge volumes of freshwater mixed with saltwater in the ocean and that also changes biology of marine invertebrates and also may cause some changes in ocean flows.