Russian Jet Drones Hit Kyiv’s Academy of Sciences, Killing at Least Two as Strikes Resume Overnight

A jet-powered Russian drone slammed into the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv on Monday, killing at least two people and setting the historic 19th-century building ablaze in one of the most sustained daytime assaults on the Ukrainian capital since the war began.

Emergency services recovered one body from the rubble later in the evening, according to Reuters. Footage shared online appeared to show the drone striking the building at a steep angle before flames engulfed its upper floors, with staff leaning from windows as smoke rose into a clear sky.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said nine people were killed and more than 80 injured in drone strikes nationwide on Monday. In his nightly address, he said 90 of the 120 drones fired that day were jet-propelled and that Ukraine’s interception rate against them was just 57 per cent, adding that “new interceptors are being actively tested”.

Russia has increasingly deployed adapted Iranian-designed Shaheds fitted with Chinese-made jet engines, according to The Times — flying at up to 500 km/h and 7 km altitude, beyond the reach of most mobile air defences.

Among the wounded was the academy’s first vice-president Volodymyr Horbulin, a former security official, who told broadcaster Suspilne his assistant was killed near the building. Reuters reported that 69-year-old deputy department head Ihor Malchevsky escaped the burning building by climbing from a third-floor window.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of “deliberately expanding the boundaries of what it believes the world will tolerate” and urged allies to supply more air defences. Hours later, Russia struck Kyiv again in the early hours of Tuesday, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting explosions across the city, missile debris in one courtyard and a building fire elsewhere, according to Al Jazeera.

Sources: Reuters · The Times