The Russian attack on Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences on Monday dealt a serious blow to the country’s pre-eminent research institution, a recent center of wartime innovation that is also responsible for almost every major Ukrainian civilian discovery of the past century. Scientists affiliated with the academy have contributed to recent discoveries in astronomy and medicine and have been instrumental in developing new military technologies, including drones and enhanced armor for vehicles.

Academics from Ukraine and around the world on Tuesday condemned the strike by a jet-powered drone, which caused the academy’s headquarters in Kyiv to partly collapse and become engulfed in flames, killing at least two people and injuring several others. “Science has become a target. And the world has seen it,” the academy said in a statement. “There can be no ‘science is above politics’ when science is under armed attacks.”

It was not immediately clear if the academy had been intentionally targeted. The building is near a data center maintained by UKRtelecom, a large telecommunications provider. Such facilities have recently come under frequent Russian attack. “It’s more of a symbol that the Russians want to destroy,” said Mark Omelchenko, 26, a Kyiv resident. “But I don’t think this will destroy science.”

Academic institutions have not been spared since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. By 2025, one-third of Ukrainian universities had been damaged, and around 7,500 academics have been displaced. The academy, established in 1918, employs about 16,000 researchers across 170 institutes and has been central to military research, including drone technology and AI swarms, while also contributing to astronomy and medicine.