KYIV, Sept 28 (Reuters) – At least one person was killed when a drone hit the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv on Monday, as Russia pounded the centre of the Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a total of 19 people had been injured, six of whom were being treated in hospital. Sirens echoed through the streets as black smoke billowed into the sky.
In recent weeks, Russia has begun hitting Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with faster, high-flying jet drones. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine was able to intercept only just over half – far fewer than when facing the older, propeller-powered versions.
A pharmaceutical company, petrol stations and a medical facility were also hit in Kyiv on Monday, Zelenskiy said, while in other cities and regions, civilian facilities, businesses and communications infrastructure were targeted.
“Every one of Ukraine’s partners must see from this terror, from these strikes, that supporting Ukraine means truly supporting people’s lives,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.
ATTACK ON BUSINESS CENTRE IN DNIPRO
In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a Russian drone attack on a business centre killed three, officials said.
In particular, Russia has been widening its attacks on economic targets beyond warehouses, port facilities and energy infrastructure, in recent days hitting data centres and telecoms facilities.
Another person was killed in a logistics office in Synelnykove, southeast of Dnipro, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said.
In Kyiv, flames leaped from the historic Academy building, where rubble was strewn across the courtyard. Firefighters doused the building in water and searched for people in the wreckage.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of cynicism for targeting a scientific institution in the middle of the working day.
“Russia is deliberately expanding the boundaries of what it believes the world will tolerate. Every attack left without a strong response only encourages the next one,” he said.
Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said 19 people had been injured in the daytime attack on the business centre in Dnipro.
Hanzha said the centre was surrounded by residential buildings, a park, a library and offices in the heart of the city: “Hundreds of people are here in the middle of the working day.”
Ukraine has also increased attacks on Russia, targeting oil refineries as well as online retailers to try to undermine revenues and support for Moscow’s war effort.
Zelenskiy said on Monday that it had struck Russian oil facilities in the Krasnodar region and two defence plants.
Both sides have denied deliberately targeting civilians.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Yuliia Dysa in London; writing by Dan Flynn in Kyiv; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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