SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: November 14, 2024

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Donbas State Pedagogical University

Region & Country:Europe | Ukraine

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On November 14, 2024, Russian shelling struck the campus of Donbas State Pedagogical University, causing significant damage to the buildings. There were no reported deaths or injuries on the campus.

Photos show damage to the administration building and dormitories on the campus, including shattered windows and doors.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about military forces targeting higher education facilities in armed conflict. Parties to a conflict may only attack legitimate military targets; where a party suspects that a civilian facility—such as a university building—is being used for military purposes, that party has a duty to take every action practicable to verify that this suspicion is correct before initiating an attack. In the event of such an attack, parties must take all practicable precautions to avoid or minimize damage to civilian facilities. Further, parties must refrain from launching attacks which may be expected to cause disproportionate damage to civilian facilities.

Sources:
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3926976-russian-forces-shell-sloviansk-damaging-kindergarten-and-university.html
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/11/14/7484465/
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2024/11/14/novyna/suspilstvo/slovyansku-vorozhyj-obstril-potrapyv-dytsadok-ta-universytet
https://freeradio.com.ua/zaharbnyky-zranku-atakuvaly-slov-iansk-postrazhdaly-peduniversytet-ta-inshi-ob-iekty/