Russian Strike Sets Kyiv's National Academy of Sciences Building Ablaze

A Russian strike struck the head office of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, setting the building alight and triggering a rescue operation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Firefighters battled the blaze and searched for anyone still inside, while footage from the scene showed an elderly woman being given first aid and a covered body lying near the building's entrance. A man was seen climbing down a ladder from the burning structure.

A woman was killed in the capital's Shevchenkivskyi district on Monday afternoon, the Kyiv city military administration said. Zelenskyy confirmed there were dead and offered condolences to their families, saying Russia would receive a response.

"These are not military sites at all, and there was nothing military nearby. These are civilian facilities," said journalist Serhii Chalyi, who witnessed the aftermath. He described people standing at windows as smoke poured out, and said rescuers arrived with ladders and brought them down. "I saw dead people. A woman was injured and died. I saw injured people. Cars were burning, there were explosions."

Vyacheslav Sukhomlinov, an employee at the academy, said he was inside when the explosion brought a wall down towards him. Unable to leave through the windows, he reached another opening and was helped down a ladder by rescuers.

Zelenskyy said Russian forces also hit a pharmaceutical company and gas stations in Kyiv, a business centre in Dnipro, and civilian sites, enterprises and communications facilities in other cities and regions. "Every one of Ukraine's partners must see from this terror, from such strikes, that support for Ukraine is truly support for people's lives," he said, adding that Russia must face real consequences.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces struck two data centres in Kyiv and gas stations in the capital, along with a distribution hub belonging to the Nova Poshta postal service in Odesa. It said the military also hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea and another in the port of Chornomorsk.

The strikes are aimed at curbing Ukraine's grain exports, though they may also create food shortages in countries that depend on Ukrainian imports. Russian aerial attacks regularly hit civilian areas, while Moscow claims it targets only military-related sites.