A drone strike hit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday, damaging the building that houses the National Academy of Sciences and starting a fire that rescue workers were able to put out.
The strike was part of what was described as a fresh round of bombardment on the city, the latest in a war between Russia and Ukraine that has now stretched on for more than three and a half years since Russia's invasion in February 2022. Kyiv, a city of roughly three million people before the war began, has weathered repeated waves of missile and drone attacks throughout the conflict, often targeting energy infrastructure, government buildings and, as in this case, cultural and scientific institutions.
Photographs distributed by the Associated Press showed firefighters working to contain the blaze at the academy building, an institution with a history stretching back more than a century as Ukraine's leading center for scientific research, encompassing dozens of institutes covering fields from physics to history. There was no immediate word on casualties from the strike, though officials in Kyiv have said in the past that even strikes without loss of life carry a real cost in disrupted research, records and institutional memory.
The attack came against a backdrop of continued difficulty in reaching a broader peace settlement, with fighting continuing along multiple fronts and both sides periodically exchanging long-range strikes deep into each other's territory. Diplomatic efforts to end the war have continued intermittently, but a lasting ceasefire has so far remained elusive.
Was anyone hurt in the strike?
There was no immediate report of casualties from the strike on the academy building.
How long has the war between Russia and Ukraine been going on?
The full-scale war began in February 2022 and has continued for more than three and a half years.