Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences hit by Russian drone, killing two

A Russian drone hit Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv on Monday 28 September, killing two people, according to Reuters. The academy is now calling on the scientific community to back Ukrainian science and ‘to stand united’ against Russia’s continued attacks on science.

The drone hit Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences building – which has housed the academy since 1919 – during the day on Monday. People inside were forced to flee the burning building by climbing out of first- and second-storey windows. Valentyn Chebanov, director of the Institute of Functional Materials Chemistry in Kharkiv, says that this was a ‘deliberate strike at the heart of the academy’. ‘The missile hit the part of the building that houses the offices of the academy’s president and vice presidents, as well as the conference hall,’ he says. ‘This [building] is right in the centre of Kyiv and there are no military facilities nearby.’