Attempts to Sink Shipbuilding

During the full-scale invasion, Mykolaiv became one of the hottest spots on the southern front. The Russians failed to capture the city, so they resorted to their favorite tactic — causing maximum damage to civilian objects. Missile attacks were destroying everything — residential buildings, hospitals, hotels, schools, enterprises, universities.

Mykolaiv is primarily associated with the shipbuilding industry. There’s a good reason why it’s called the city of ships. It is the site of Ukraine’s key shipyards, design bureaus and educational institutions related to shipbuilding.

Admiral Makarov Mykolaiv National University of Shipbuilding is one of the most important educational and scientific hubs in this field. More than 7,000 students study at the university; it includes seven educational and scientific institutes and three faculties.

On the university page, you can read about 15 scientific schools, 7 industry laboratories and 6 scientific and technical centers that design new types of ships, research turbines, internal combustion engines, seaworthiness, fuel use, soldering and welding under vacuum pressure, environmental safety and energy saving, cooling technologies, gas-thermal coatings, etc.

This place has quite a long history behind it. In 1902, a mechanical and technical school was established, getting converted into a polytechnic school in 1917. In 1920, the institution was reorganized into a technical school, in 1927 — into a shipbuilding school, and in 1930, it received the status of an institute.

The school of ships grew alongside the city, where new shipbuilding factories emerged. By the way, the flagship of the Soviet and now the Russian fleet, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov (launched in 1985) and the missile cruiser Moskva (launched in 1979 and sunk in 2022) were built in Mykolaiv.

Following Ukraine gaining independence, the institute received the status of a university in 1994, and in 2004 it became a national university. Its scientists have repeatedly received the State Prizes of Ukraine in the field of science and technology. For instance, in 2007, they were awarded for the development of new floating composite structures, particularly docks (later, the Kherson plant Pallada, co-recipient of the award, started1 selling composite docks to Turkey); in 2011 — for developing universal transportation vessels and marine equipment.

In Mykolaiv, the university has three buildings, the largest of which, the main one, was completed in the early 1980s. This is a massive brutalist square structure, which became the victim of two massive Russian attacks — on July 15 and October 10.

We visited Mykolaiv after the liberation of Kherson. The city became much safer, because Russians can no longer reach it with artillery, but they never stopped terrorizing it with S-300 missiles.

Hennadii Pavlov, vice-rector for research, gave us a tour of the destroyed building.

On July 15, two missiles hit the main building, destroying several floors in one part of the building and seriously damaging another part. One of the missiles hit the elevator shaft, resulting in elevator doors bent by the blast wave on every floor. Three missiles landed near the building, and blast waves destroyed almost all the windows, doors, laboratory and educational equipment; educational facilities were badly damaged.

The rector of the university, Yevhen Trushliakov, organized an emergency repair. The debris was cleared, the windows were covered with shields and film, but on October 10, the Russians struck again, causing even more destruction.

Shortly before the invasion, this building was renovated, all the windows and elevators were replaced, and now it is all destroyed.

Parts of the Smerch and Grad missiles that hit the university remain in the hall at the entrance. The main task at hand is to help the building survive the winter. However, despite everything, the university continues its work. The experience of remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic was helpful.

Several hundred students from China study here. In February, they left Ukraine, but have continued studying remotely.

Hennadii says that while it is impossible to calculate all the damages, this will be done by a special commission. As of now, only a part of the building has electricity, there is no heating.

The Kherson Education and Science Institute of the university has survived the occupation. As soon as it was feasible, the university sent humanitarian aid to their colleagues in Kherson, but the city is now suffering from intense shelling.

Mykolaiv shipbuilding school was one of the most powerful in the USSR times. Russia wanted to take it back by force along with the city, but the people of Mykolaiv and the Armed Forces of Ukraine disagreed. The Russians managed to destroy the main building of the shipbuilding university, but the institution is always about people, and they did not give up, choosing to continue their work.

Despite the significant destruction, all research programs of the university go on. The most valuable equipment, the VVU-1D object, suffered minor damage and is now under conservation. At the end of October, the university held an international conference that gathered almost 300 shipbuilding scientists.

This report has been developed within the project supported by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. government.