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A Russian drone strike on the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv killed at least one person and wounded three others, part of a wider wave of attacks across Ukraine that killed more in Dnipro and Kharkiv.
A Russian drone struck the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv on Monday, killing at least one person and wounding three others as flames tore through the historic building.
People clambered out of first- and second-floor windows to escape, in scenes increasingly familiar in the heavily bombarded capital. The 19th-century building stands near the German embassy, the National Opera, St Volodymyr's Cathedral and several government buildings. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said at least one person was killed and three wounded, and that the injured had been taken to hospital. Anatoliy Zagorodny, president of the national academy, said the blast struck while many staff members were inside.
Attacks on Science Condemned as Terrorism
Standing outside the burning building, he said he did not know why Russia attacked a civilian institution. We are not connected with the military. This is an attack on science. It is terrorism, Zagorodny 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 was Volodymyr Horbulin, the academy's first vice-president and a former high-ranking security official. Ukraine's former national security and defence council secretary, Volodymyr Gorbulin, told state broadcaster Suspilne that he was at work at the academy at the time and was slightly wounded.
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. Russia is deliberately expanding the boundaries of what it believes the world will tolerate. Every attack left without a strong response only encourages the next one, he said.
Video footage shared online appeared to show a high-speed drone smashing into the academy at a sharp angle, exploding and sending acrid smoke into the blue sky. Elsewhere, Russian strikes killed four and wounded at least 19 at a business centre in the central city of Dnipro, while authorities reported an unspecified number of fatalities in a strike on a residential area in eastern Kharkiv.
Wider Strikes Hit Cities and Border Areas
Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky said Russian forces damaged an ice cream factory in the Zhytomyr region west of Kyiv, and residential buildings in Sumy, in the north, Rivne, in the northwest, and southern Odesa. Thirty civilians were wounded, three of them seriously, in strikes on Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, the regional military administration said. During Russia's assault, Poland scrambled jets to defend its air space and warned citizens near the Ukrainian border to stay inside.
A Russian jet-powered drone struck western Ukraine near the border crossing with Poland, prompting Warsaw to issue an alert warning of a possible air attack and urging residents in the eastern Lublin region to seek shelter. It's again a threat very close to our border, said Lt Col Jacek Goryszewski, speaking to Poland's broadcaster TVN24.
Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian border crossings with Poland and Moldova, leading Kyiv to consider relocating joint customs checkpoints to the territory of neighbouring countries. The strikes come as Ukrainians consider their options with winter approaching, after Russian attacks last year on energy infrastructure cut power and heating as temperatures plunged to as low as -20C. 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.
Kyiv now has 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.
New Drone Tactics Challenge Air Defences
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. Ukraine is racing to develop and manufacture interceptors capable of bringing them down. Moscow has also changed its tactics, launching more attacks in daylight hours so that residents in major cities have to spend more of the day under air raid alerts.
Buildings hit during daytime strikes are often occupied because many Ukrainians work through drone alerts rather than spend hours in shelters. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called on western countries to intensify their pressure on Russia. Every Russian terrorist attack is a loss of life that could have been prevented if pressure on Russia had finally become total, he wrote on X on Monday. The world must understand that terrorists will go further if they are not stopped here, in Ukraine.
And we cannot turn a blind eye to such brutal strikes. Russia has signalled that its attacks on Ukraine could intensify, and US-brokered efforts to end the war show little sign of progress. Ukraine will have to pay a price for the actions that have taken place in recent months, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday, referring to Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory. That is happening right now.
European Ministers Discuss Hybrid Threats
Meanwhile, European defence ministers discussed whether the European Union needed its own NATO-style emergency mechanism to bolster coordination against hybrid attacks by Russia. European governments say Moscow is stepping up its campaign of sabotage and interference against Ukraine's supporters, as Kremlin troops struggle to make headway on the front lines. NATO's top military commander said Russia's sabotage campaign in Europe was failing to put countries off supporting Ukraine.
State-directed sabotage is growing increasingly brazen, US General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told a committee of EU politicians. General Grynkewich cited recent incidents including the discovery of an explosive-laden drone at a German airport and a Russian naval ship firing flares at a Danish helicopter. These are clear examples of attempts to instil fear and fracture our unified support to Ukraine.
It is not working, he said, pointing at Denmark's fast-tracking of fresh aid for Ukraine after the flare incident. The attacks and the response from NATO and the EU highlight the ongoing tensions and the international community's efforts to support Ukraine amid the conflict.
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GuardianAus:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Russia Ukraine War National Academy Of Sciences Kyiv Drone Attack NATO Volodymyr Gorbulin Dnipro Strike Hybrid Warfare Kyiv Drone Strike NATO Hybrid Attacks Ukraine Air Defense
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