Fire, Smoke and Desperation After a Strike in the Heart of Kyiv 11111

A Russian jet-powered drone hit Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, the source of almost all of the country’s major scientific discoveries.

By Kim Barker, Maria Varenikova 

and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

The New York Times

Sept. 28, 2026

Updated 1:10 p.m. ET

In the middle of a workday, in the middle of the Ukrainian capital, a Russian jet-powered drone struck the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, setting the top two floors on fire and forcing people to crawl out of windows to await rescue.

Video https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/world/europe/urkaine-drone-attack-kyiv-academy-sciences.html CreditCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, employees of an institution that has accounted for almost all major scientific discoveries in Ukraine had to climb down ladders to reach safety.

Image On a paved surface, three people attend to an injured person lying down, while others in uniforms stand nearby. A yellow hose lies across the ground. Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

Russia has been pounding Kyiv around the clock for weeks with new jet-powered drones, which have proved difficult to knock down with Ukraine’s current air defenses. Daily life in the capital is now punctuated by the rat-a-tat of air-defense guns, followed by a drone hitting something — a data center, a random street, a gas station, a warehouse, a high-rise building.

This drone hit just before 1:30 p.m. Kyiv time, when people at the academy were on lunch break but most were eating in their offices. The injured were treated on the sidewalk outside the building — a yellow, pink and white architectural landmark originally designed in the 1850s to be a countess’s boarding school for girls.

“My office is gone now,” said Vira Yevhrafova, 65, deputy chief scientist at the academy. “It was on the second floor — everything has collapsed, everything.”

Image/ Three firefighters work amid burning cars and a flaming building, spraying water and managing hoses. Thick smoke rises from the chaotic, debris-covered scene./ Credit...Dan Bashakov/Associated Press/ 

The attack on Monday killed at least one person and injured six. One man was missing. It is a typical toll for these drone strikes, now so regular they barely make the international news unless the images are particularly dramatic. The daughter of the woman who died showed up at the building and burst into tears. She was sad and angry but had nothing else to say.

Image/ A person on a ladder against a building with two windows. Fiery orange flames burst from both windows; another ladder is nearby. Credit...Gleb Garanich/Reuters.

Ukrainians lamented the sight of brilliant scientific minds fleeing their burning offices. “What an idiotic war,” Andriy Kovalenko, a lieutenant in Ukraine’s military and a former government official, posted on social media along with a photo of two people crawling out of windows.

Image/ A person in a black tactical vest helps another person with grey hair walk along a street. A building behind them is visibly on fire. Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

The attack on the sciences academy was just the start of a busy day for rescue workers and military drone interception teams. Less than two hours later, another drone hit a clinic about a mile south. An hour after that, a drone was intercepted right as it hit a nearby building./

Image/ Two people on their knees embrace closely. Several others are present, with a white sheet covering a body on the ground. Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

After yet another fatal strike in Kyiv, with yet another body covered by a sheet and then carted away, Ukrainians again took stock of Russia’s effort to bomb them into submission.

“I think what they want now is to frighten us and bring our lives to a halt,” said Vira Balanovska, 43, who walked with her 9-year-old daughter past the burning academy. “It’s not just about attacking warehouses so that we won’t have food. They also want to intimidate us — to make it so that we can’t work, study, do scientific research or really do anything at all.”

***

Evelina Riabenko contributed reporting./ 

Kim Barker is a Times reporter writing in-depth stories about the war in Ukraine./

Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and its war with Russia.

***

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine/ 

Russia at the U.N.: In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Russia’s foreign minister defended his country’s war on Ukraine and vowed that the fight would be “seen through to the end.”

Millions of Books Destroyed: Ranok Publishing, one of the largest children’s book publishers in Ukraine, was attacked by Russia when it was preparing textbooks for the new school year.

Trump Invites Putin to G20 Summit: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Trump had invited President Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 leadership summit in Miami in December, in what would mark Putin’s first in-person appearance at the annual gathering since 2019.

Russian Supermarkets: Costs have risen dramatically since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And sanctions have changed some products available, too

***

How We Verify Our Reporting/ 

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details./ 

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts./