Russian drone strikes on Kyiv kill at least three, damage science academy and clinic

Russian forces launched a wave of drone strikes on Kyiv on Monday, striking the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a private medical centre and a residential building, killing at least three people and wounding 24 others, according to Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian officials. Volodymyr Horbulin, the academy's first vice-president and a former secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, was among the injured. His assistant, Nataliia Bukalo, was killed in the attack.

Flames engulfed the nineteenth-century academy building in central Kyiv as staff escaped through windows, scenes that have become increasingly common in the bombarded capital. Anatoliy Zagorodny, the academy's president, expressed bewilderment at why Russia had targeted a civilian research institution, describing the strike as "an attack on science" and "terrorism."

A separate drone struck the Dobrobut medical centre on Antonovycha Street, killing one person and wounding seven others, six of whom were staff members. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, accused Moscow of deliberately expanding the boundaries of what the world will tolerate.

The strikes prompted Polish military jets to be scrambled and residents in Poland's Lublin Voivodeship to be briefly urged to take shelter before the alert was lifted. The incident underscores how Russian attacks on Ukraine continue to affect neighbouring NATO members.