When Prof Gavin Brown, pro vice-chancellor at Liverpool University, first made contact with academics at Sumy State University (SSU) in north-eastern Ukraine a few weeks ago, he did not expect to come off the call and start ordering new windows.
One of SSU’s main buildings had been destroyed in a Russian bomb attack. Among the university’s many immediate needs, it had to replace 110 windows – but managers could not source glass in war-torn Ukraine. Brown told them to send him the measurements.
