Russian drone and missile fire struck the heart of Kyiv on Monday, hitting the National Academy of Sciences in the capital’s historic center and, hours later, a medical facility and commercial sites Ukrainian officials said were part of a rolling six-day campaign against economic and civilian infrastructure.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least nine people were killed across Ukraine in Russian drone attacks on Monday and more than 80 were wounded. Emergency services said two people died when a drone struck the academy building; rescuers recovered one body from the rubble later in the evening.
What officials confirmed in Kyiv
Ukraine’s state emergency service reported that the academy strike damaged the building and left two people dead. Zelenskyy said Russian forces also hit a medical facility in the capital on the same day, without naming the clinic. City officials said additional strikes targeted a pharmaceutical company and petrol stations.
Al Jazeera correspondent Jonah Hull, reporting from Kyiv, described Russia’s recent pattern as a “rolling series of strikes” that have kept the capital “firmly into the eye of this war,” with attacks continuing through day and night for roughly six days.
Damage beyond the capital
Regional authorities reported casualties outside Kyiv as well. In Dnipro, a drone attack on a business center killed three people and wounded 19, according to local officials. One person was killed in a logistics office in Synelnykove, southeast of Dnipro, the regional governor said. Emergency services said an infrastructure strike in Zaporizhzhia wounded 32 people.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck targets inside Russia overnight, including facilities in Krasnodar and two defence plants, as Kyiv continues to press attacks on oil refineries and other revenue-generating assets.
What happens next
Ukrainian air-defence units remained on high alert Tuesday as officials cleared debris around the academy and assessed structural damage to research facilities in a district that hosts multiple scientific institutes. Zelenskyy repeated calls for additional air-defence systems from partners, linking the Kyiv casualties to gaps in coverage against mass drone salvos.
There was no immediate Russian comment on the academy strike. Moscow has previously described long-range attacks on Ukrainian energy and transport infrastructure as responses to Kyiv’s strikes on Russian territory.
The academy building sits near other research institutes in a district that normally sees commuter traffic rather than front-line alerts. Residents posted overnight video of air-defence intercepts and secondary explosions, and municipal workers began boarding shattered windows by Tuesday morning.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the strike on a scientific institution underscored the need for faster deliveries of air-defence interceptors, repeating a request Zelenskyy made after earlier attacks on power plants. Western capitals have not announced new packages in the hours since the Kyiv toll was updated.