Earlier this month, a research facility near Ukraine's national seed bank was damaged, according to Crop Trust, a non-profit organization established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The facility and Ukraine's seed bank are both located in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, which has been heavily bombed by Russian forces. The cause of the damage is unknown, but Crop Trust mentioned that the research facility was hit, without providing further details for security reasons. This incident highlighted the risk faced by the seed bank, as only 4% of the seeds stored there, which is the tenth largest in the world, have been backed up. "Seed banks serve as a form of insurance for humanity, providing the necessary resources to develop new plant varieties that can withstand various challenges such as drought, pests, diseases, and extreme temperatures," stated Stefan Schmitz, the executive director of Crop Trust, in an interview with Reuters. The potential destruction of Ukraine's seed bank is seen as a significant loss. Efforts to contact the seed bank director, the Ukrainian academy of science, and the Russian defense ministry for comment on the damage were unsuccessful. Researchers depend on the genetic diversity stored in seed banks to cultivate plants that are resilient to climate change and diseases." They have become increasingly crucial in ensuring that enough food is produced each season to feed 7.9 billion people, especially as extreme weather patterns become more common worldwide. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two major grain exporters, has contributed to food price inflation and the risk of food shortages, leading to protests in developing countries that rely on Ukraine's grain exports. The war in Syria has highlighted the importance of seed backups, with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway playing a key role in providing replacement samples of wheat, barley, and grasses to researchers in Lebanon after a seed bank in Syria was destroyed. The Svalbard vault, located in an Arctic mountainside, houses over a million seed samples. 4% of Ukraine's 150,000 seeds, which represent more than 1,800 crops, are included in this collection. The Crop Trust, based in Germany and the only international organization dedicated to preserving crop diversity, has provided funding for Ukraine to duplicate these seeds. However, challenges related to security, logistics, the ongoing war, and natural cycles have made it difficult to expedite the process. It is estimated that only about 10% of Ukraine's seeds could be replicated within a year, as they must first be planted, grown, and harvested before duplicates can be extracted and sent to Svalbard. While one option is to send the entire collection to Svalbard without duplication as an emergency measure, this may not be feasible during wartime. The seeds from Syria originated in the Fertile Crescent, where settled farming is believed to have begun, and Ukraine holds a significant role in agriculture as well. Grethe Helene Evjen, a senior adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, stated that agriculture in Ukraine dates back to prehistoric times and many of the country's seeds are unique. She mentioned that the ministry is willing to assist Ukraine in duplicating and storing all of its seeds at Svalbard, but has not yet been contacted by Ukrainian authorities.