People try to escape burning National Academy of Sciences building in Kyiv after Russian strike (updated)
A Russian drone attack on Kyiv resulted in a UAV falling in the city centre and starting a fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. People are trying to escape from the burning building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv.
“In the Shevchenkivskyi district, in the centre of the capital, a UAV fell on a non-residential building. Fire,” he said.
Footage shows that the National Academy of Sciences building was under attack.
According to Klitschko, emergency services are heading to the scene.
One woman was killed, and four other people were injured “in the historical centre of Kyiv, in a non-residential building hit by an enemy UAV”, Klitschko later added.
“Medics hospitalised three of the wounded… The search and rescue operation is ongoing,” the mayor noted.
In addition, in the Darnytskyi district, a UAV hit the territory of a non-residential development.
Meanwhile, two sources confirmed to BBC News Ukraine that a former head of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Volodymyr Horbulin, sustained minor injuries in the drone strike.
“The strike hit the room located one floor above his office. Volodymyr Pavlovych is already at home; he sustained minor injuries from shattered glass,” an informed source said.
However, his personal assistant, Natalia, was killed, according to preliminary data, the source added. She was likely near the building at the time of the strike.
86-year-old Volodymyr Horbulin is one of the key figures in Ukraine’s defence and aerospace sectors.
In 1994, he came to power as an associate of President Leonid Kuchma and was tasked with restoring the country’s defence industry, army, and space sector.
Horbulin took part in many important decisions for Ukraine at that time.
He subsequently continued to work in the sphere of state security and defence, served as a strategic advisor to presidents Viktor Yushchenko, Petro Poroshenko, and Oleksandr Turchynov, and headed the supervisory board of Ukroboronprom during the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
To provide background, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise, the war in Ukraine has not ended 24 hours after his inauguration. His further attempts to facilitate an unconditional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine have also failed.
Ukrainian experts earlier pointed out that countries, including China, Greece, North Korea, India, Hungary, Slovakia, Iran, and Brazil, assist Moscow in killing Ukrainians in its war against Ukraine by funding the Russian budget through trade.
Related: Rights group submits findings on suspected breaches of Russia sanctions to EU authorities
Human rights organisations and Ukrainian authorities emphasise that structural economic pressure remains a key tool to halt such atrocities. They urge every nation and individual government worldwide to strictly enforce global sanctions, close existing regulatory loopholes, and completely sever remaining commercial and technological ties with the Russian Federation. Civil society groups stress that any continued cooperation by foreign businesses directly contributes to the resources Moscow uses to sustain its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
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