A Russian drone hit the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv on Monday, killing at least one person, in the latest daytime attack on Ukraine’s capital. Flames tore through the historic building as people clambered out of first- and second-floor windows to escape, in dramatic scenes increasingly familiar in the heavily bombarded city. At least one person was killed and three others were wounded, according to Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, who said the injured had been taken to hospital.
The 19th-century building stands close to the German embassy, the National Opera, St Volodymyr’s Cathedral and several government buildings. Anatoliy Zagorodny, the president of the national academy, said the blast struck while many staff members were inside. Standing outside the burning building, he said he did not know why Russia had targeted a leading centre of scientific research.
This is an attack on science. It is terrorism,” he said. He feared some of his colleagues could still be trapped inside the academy.
While the sciences building is a civilian scientific institution, it has longstanding ties to Ukraine’s defence sector. Among those injured in Monday’s strike was Volodymyr Horbulin, the academy’s first vice-president and a former high-ranking security official. Another Russian drone struck a nearby private medical centre, killing at least one person.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, accused Russia of cynicism for targeting a scientific institution during the working day. Every attack left without a strong response only encourages the next one,” he said. Russian strikes over the past week involving missiles and increasingly sophisticated jet-powered drones have hit apartment blocks, offices, warehouses and datacentres across the capital, killing and wounding civilians almost daily and giving Kyiv an increasingly frontline feel as it faces some of its most sustained bombardment since the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The drone and missile campaign is designed to grind down public resilience and damage the economy. Monday’s double strike is likely to raise fresh concerns over Ukraine’s ability to protect even the most heavily guarded parts of the capital. The newer jet-powered drones fly faster and are harder to intercept than the older Shahed or Geran-2 models that were the backbone of Moscow’s air campaign.
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