On the night of July 5, an enemy missile attack severely damaged the building of the "Aquarium" Educational and Scientific Complex of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University located on Monastyrskyi Island. The blast wave struck the building's facade, shattered windows around the perimeter, and damaged lecture halls and laboratories.
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Fortunately, no staff members were injured. However, Gena the Crocodile – beloved favorite among DNU "Aquarium" staff and visitors who had lived there for over 25 years – did not survive the terrifying explosions. Due to severe stress caused by the blast sounds, the crocodile’s heart stopped, and he was found dead the following morning. Miraculously, the rest of the living exhibition remained unharmed.
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Since Sunday morning, complex staff, professors, and students from the Faculty of Biology and Ecology have been working on-site. Acting Rector Sergiy Okovityy, Vice-Rector for Research Oleh Marenkov, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Ecology Tetiana Sharamok, and Director of the "Aquarium" Complex Mykola Yerukh assessed the damage on location and outlined urgent emergency response and cleanup measures, focusing on sealing the premises and safeguarding the collection from further destruction.
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Despite the significant structural damage, the university team is doing everything possible to preserve this unique collection of living exhibits and restore the operations of the educational and scientific complex as quickly as possible.
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Background Information: The DNU "Aquarium" Educational and Scientific Complex is a living museum of freshwater flora and fauna. As an educational, scientific, cultural, and conservation division of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, it has no equivalent among higher education institutions in Ukraine.
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The DNU "Aquarium" is currently the only operational freshwater aquarium in Ukraine (the second is located in the temporarily occupied territory). The exhibition hall features 20 tanks – each with a capacity of 1,200 liters – housing fish species from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, as well as South and North America. The aquatic inhabitants are grouped according to their native geographic regions, arranged in thematic blocks dedicated to the freshwater fauna of each continent.
The center of the hall features a frame-structured 100,000-liter "tunnel-type" aquarium. It is inhabited by fish species native to Ukrainian natural waters, alongside acclimatized and hybrid forms raised in local fish farms.
Інформаційно-аналітичне агентство
Дніпровського національного університету
