Rizky Amelia
Russian forces launched fresh attacks on Ukraine's capital early Tuesday, just hours after a jet-powered drone slammed into the historic National Academy of Sciences building in central Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding others, according to Ukrainian officials.
Explosions reverberated across the city before dawn, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting that missile debris had crashed into the courtyard of one building while a separate structure caught fire elsewhere in Kyiv. The consecutive assaults underscored Moscow's intensifying campaign against urban centers as the war grinds toward another winter.
The strike on the National Academy of Sciences on Monday represented a direct hit on one of Ukraine's most storied scientific institutions, located in a district that also houses the German Embassy, a cathedral, the national opera and several government buildings. Video footage circulating online appeared to capture a fast-moving drone descending at a steep angle before exploding against the structure, sending smoke spiraling into a clear sky. Onlookers were seen leaning from windows as bright orange flames consumed part of the building.
Volodymyr Horbulin, a former secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, told public broadcaster Suspilne that he was inside the academy when the attack occurred. He said his assistant, who was near the building at the time, was killed, and that he himself sustained minor injuries. Emergency crews recovered one victim's body from the rubble later Monday evening.
The academy issued a statement condemning what it described as "Russian terror" and "barbarity" directed at "peaceful people who were simply at their workplaces." The institution, which dates back to Ukraine's Soviet era and serves as the country's premier scientific body, has no military function, making it an unlikely target under international humanitarian law.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of cynicism for striking a scientific institution during the workday. "Russia is deliberately expanding the boundaries of what it believes the world will tolerate," he said in a statement, while pressing Ukraine's allies to supply additional air defense systems. The attack adds to a growing list of civilian sites hit since the invasion began, including hospitals, schools and cultural landmarks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces also struck a medical facility in Kyiv on Monday. Nationwide, he reported that at least nine people had been killed in Russian drone strikes and more than 80 wounded.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine continues to struggle against Russia's newer, faster jet-powered drones. "New interceptors are being actively tested," he said. "Some combat groups are using them, but, of course, some details still need to be refined to achieve enough effectiveness and scale. We are speeding up the developers."
The Ukrainian leader disclosed that 90 of the 120 drones launched against Ukraine on Monday were jet-propelled rather than propeller-driven. Ukraine's interception rate for that specific drone type stands at just 57 percent, a figure that highlights the mounting challenge posed by Moscow's evolving aerial arsenal.
The strikes extended well beyond the capital. Officials said Russian attacks in Kyiv also targeted a pharmaceutical company and petrol stations, while civilian facilities, businesses and communications infrastructure were hit in other cities and regions.
In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a drone attack on a business center killed three people and wounded 19, according to local authorities. Regional officials said another person was killed at a logistics office in Synelnykove, southeast of Dnipro. In Zaporizhzhia, also in the southeast, an assault on infrastructure wounded 32 people, emergency services reported.
Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from Kyiv, described a sustained Russian campaign against economic targets across the country "in a rolling series of strikes that have been ongoing for six days now," conducted around the clock. "Data centers increasingly being hit, as well as digital and communications infrastructure," he said. Kyiv Star, Ukraine's largest mobile operator, was struck Sunday, as was the second-largest carrier, Vodafone Ukraine. Hull added that the government is preparing for the possibility of a total communications blackout, noting the attacks have brought Kyiv "firmly into the eye of this war."
Ukraine has simultaneously escalated its own long-range strikes on Russian territory, targeting oil refineries and online retailers in an effort to erode revenues that fund Moscow's war machine. Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukrainian forces struck oil facilities in Russia's Krasnodar region as well as two defense plants.
Both sides have consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians, even as casualty figures from strikes on populated areas continue to mount. The latest exchanges come as international diplomacy shows few signs of producing a breakthrough, with fighting now well into its fifth year and neither side demonstrating willingness to halt operations.
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