What were the first moments after the missile attack? How did you find out about it?

During the night, a friend called me and wished me a happy birthday, it was fun to be the first to wish me. Then I was woken up after four by the car alarms blaring in the yard, triggered by an explosion two kilometres away. I knew immediately that something bad had happened, I was experiencing terrible anxiety. Moments later my phone rang and I received a call from the same friend who had wished me a happy birthday earlier. So I was immediately sure that something had happened at school. He said, "Igor Ivanovich, there's been a terrible accident. My windows flew out, something flew into our university and it's on fire." I jumped into my shorts and T-shirt and within five minutes I was on the university grounds. I was one of the first ones there, even before the police. I've been here pretty much ever since. My colleagues and I are trying to rebuild the place.

What is the damage to the university buildings? Do you have an educated guess yet?

As of today (early September), the estimated cost of the work related to the restoration of the buildings is more than 100 million hryvnia. The estimated time of restoration has two stages: the first is the reconstruction of window and door structures and roofs of the affected buildings, which will be restored by October 1. The second stage is the repair of building number 7 and the SIEMENS laboratory, which will be restored over a longer period. This may take until spring 2025, as there is a lot of preparatory work to be done - including all documentation and expertise. And that takes time. So by spring 2025, we will probably have completed the renovation of the entire site and all the university buildings.

How will this situation affect the teaching of students, given that the simulator used to train operators of the drilling rigs has been damaged?

The educational process of the classical educational character of the university is currently going on as normal. Buildings 1 and 7 are temporarily out of service as they are being renovated. In all other buildings, window surfaces have been restored and normal operations are functioning thanks to the optimization of the timetable and the increase in classroom capacity. International certification of oil and gas specialists is not currently taking place as the drilling training centre is located in Building 7, but we are actively working on the purchase of a virtual simulator that will allow us to conduct international certification of oil and gas specialists under a valid licence very soon.

How important is it to help Wider of the community in repairing? I've seen on the Facebook challengeufor alumni and businesses to support the university...

The initiator of this aid was our university. We sent out a lot of requests, letters, appeals to partner companies, to everyone we send information about what's going on at the school. We received a lot of financial and material support. Above all, our strategic partners have helped us. One of them is Horizons from the MND group, which quickly supported us with a million hryvnia, which allowed us to respond promptly to financial challenges, especially those related to expert opinions and the preparation of project and calculation documentation. The lion's share of the reconstruction costs was borne by Naftogaz and all its strategic enterprises. Our employees, graduates and students also contributed. In general, a lot of people responded, a lot of partner companies.

Our company is resuming cooperation with your university after a long period of time. We're now offering a scholarship program. What kind of student interest do you expect in this program and how will you select them?

This scholarship program is not so much new, it is rather a renewal of one of the first programs that your company introduced at our university. On the initiative of Mr. Lukas Svozil and Mr. Volodymyr Stebletsky, this scholarship program was launched in 2015-2016. Later there was a certain pause, so now we are rather renewing it. It is an opportunity to support the university with these funds. e is a great incentive program for the best IFNTUOG students with a focus on oil and gas engineering, which allows to further unlock the potential of our young talents who show their potential and have the desire to be financially stimulated. It is a great motivation for all students.

In terms of selection, there are certain criteria. The main one, however, is the quality of the student's academic performance, his or her achievements in certain components of education, which he or she translates into practical skills and knowledge. So we select primarily on the quality of education, participation in student life, patriotic and educational work, human qualities, and of course affiliation with the oil and gas engineering program.

How has the war affected the running of your university? A year ago. 2022 you had hundreds of children.ranch students from dozens of countries around the world. What is the situation now?

Now there are not hundreds of them because everyone understands the situation in our country. There are dozens of them now, mostly distance learners, although there are a few full-time students. However, we observe an increase in the activity of students from Azerbaijan who are interested in studying at IFNTUOG in the field of oil and gas at the master's and bachelor's level. And we remind that we are alive, renewing and developing. We have already opened many such areas, one of them is the new educational program "Educational Technologies for Sustainable Development in Energy", which gives students the opportunity to study in the framework of double studies (IFNTUOG and British London South Bank University)and some students in the drilling center ). This grant is running for the second year, our program is accredited by an international agency, and this allows us to be one of the few universities in Ukraine (and we are among the top six) to accept students for this educational program, including foreigners.