On August 1, 2022, it was reported that Russian occupying forces had seized control of Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University (KhDAEU) and appointed a new rector.

In the months following Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, KhDAEU moved its educational programming online and transferred administrative operations to Kropyvnytskyi, in central Ukraine.

Sources, including a Facebook post by KhDAEU’s official rector Yuriy Kyrylov, note that occupying authorities appointed Olena Chernyshova, a former member of the botany department, as rector.

Scholars at Risk is concerned foreign occupying forces violating a university’s institutional autonomy by seizing control of campus infrastructure and operations, and appointing a rector. Armed forces and occupying authorities should refrain from seizing or using higher education infrastructure and interfering in higher education governance.

Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0w2fXsLXcTFFY9hfQkUVFF7TFkgx2KtHuo7cPCYF7XZ3o8EkLMJWAbrVFgfTsg8sil&id=100008381583937
https://investigator.org.ua/news-2/245433/
https://www.ostro.org/ua/general/society/news/643328/