One of the world's largest seed depots for various plant species, located in Kharkov, Ukraine, was destroyed during the Russian attacks, the institute's chief scientist, Sergei Avramenko, announced.

The bank contained seeds of more than 160,000 varieties of plant seeds and hybrids of agricultural plants from around the world.

Among the destroyed seeds are examples of seeds that no longer exist anywhere else in Europe and the world.

Preservation and effective use of plant genetic diversity to ensure food, economic, environmental, social protection and development is one of the most important problems for mankind.

In Ukraine, these activities in this regard began in the early twentieth century.

Following the declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1992, the Academy of Agrarian Sciences launched an initiative to establish the National Plant Genetic Bank of Ukraine.

The project involved 28 scientific research institutions and resulted in the establishment of the Ukrainian Plant Genetic Resource System.

Avaremko stressed that the seeds are stored in special conditions so that future generations can use them and that various samples have been commissioned by scientists from around the world, including Russia, in order to work on the development of area-specific cereals. suitable for climate.