And why can't university IT set up the server? No offense but you're a nobody asking us, also nobodies, how to set up some sort of a funky server on the university network, meanwhile the university pays people to do this for a living.
Where will the server actually be? Will it be in a secure location where only authorized personnel can physically access the machine or will it be behind the trash can in the cafeteria where anyone can access it?
Since you will lose access to it once it's set up who will monitor the system? Who turns it on in case it somehow gets shut down? Who sets up backups and does rollbacks if something breaks?
What happens to the hardware when research project is over?
To me it all smells like something the IT department should set up. They already know the best practices. They also know whatever security guidelines they need to follow. They will have monitoring systems in place so they could admin the system instead of leaving it without an actual administrator. And they're probably the ones decommissioning the hardware when the research project is over.
My suggestion is to leave it to the people who are getting paid to do this. It's one thing to know how to set up a home server on your home network, it's a different thing to set up a server on an enterprise network.
Not just that. For that supposed 20% he reinvigorated NATO (prior to the full scale invasion countries started questioning if we still need NATO), got EU to increase defense spending and got Finland and Sweden to join NATO. They also proved they're a paper tiger and their arms manufacturing is crap. Oh and of course sanctions and the war completely wrecking the economy.
Even if they somehow get 20% it's a Pyrrhic victory.