At least one person has been killed and 19 injured after a Russian drone struck a building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the heart of Kyiv during working hours on Monday, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack hit the academy’s historic building in the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district in the early afternoon, sparking a fire and sending black smoke over the city centre. Images showed flames leaping from the building and people climbing out of windows.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one woman was confirmed dead and that 19 people were injured, with six taken to hospital. Rescue teams were searching the rubble for people who may have been trapped inside.
The strike was part of a wider bombardment across Ukraine on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelensky said a pharmaceutical company, petrol stations and a medical facility were also hit in Kyiv, while a business centre in the southeastern city of Dnipro was struck, killing three people.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians.
“In broad daylight, Russia struck a building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the very heart of Kyiv,” Sybiha said. “There is no bottom to Russia’s cynicism. A scientific institution full of people in the middle of a working day has become another target of its terror.”
Sybiha said Russia was testing the limits of international tolerance and called for more air-defence interceptors, tougher sanctions and stronger pressure on those helping Moscow sustain its war. He also urged UNESCO – the UN body tasked with protecting science – to strip Russia of voting rights and eligibility for its governing bodies.
Zelensky said Ukraine was increasingly struggling to intercept new Russian jet-powered drones, which fly faster and higher than the older propeller-driven Shahed-type drones. On Saturday he said Ukraine was now intercepting just over half of them.
“Every one of Ukraine’s partners must see from this terror… that supporting Ukraine means truly supporting people’s lives,” Zelensky said on Telegram. “Russia will definitely face a response to this.”
The Kremlin said Ukraine would “have to pay a price” for recent attacks inside Russia. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said prospects for a quick peace deal were bleak.
The attack came as diplomatic efforts at the United Nations General Assembly last week failed to gain traction for negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.
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