A Russian drone directly struck a building belonging to Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in the heart of Kyiv on Monday, the latest in a series of escalating attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
Videos shared on social media showed people leaning out of windows for fresh air as thick black smoke and bright orange flames engulfed part of the historic building.
The site is in the very centre of Kyiv, which is usually well protected from Russian attacks, and close to the German embassy, a famed cathedral, the national opera and government buildings.
The Ukrainian air force had earlier issued an alert for Kyiv, warning of ‘drones moving toward the city’.
Moscow has been pounding Kyiv with drone and missile attacks for months, with intensifying strikes bringing the city to a standstill as air raid sirens blast out multiple times a day.
On Sunday, Russian attacks killed three people in two different Ukrainian cities, and struck districts of the capital Kyiv, local officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine people were injured in the capital, including a child. Six of the injured were being treated in hospital.
Russian forces have long staged intensive attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, mostly at night. In recent weeks, they have launched strikes almost continuously throughout the day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decried the attacks on Sunday, saying the civilian targets made the acts unquestionably ‘terrorism.’
‘Russia has no military objective whatsoever in doing this,’ Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
‘It is purely an attempt to break people and inflict as much harm as possible on our society.’
