Russia just bombed Ukraine's top science institute and scientists are among the dead

Russia just hit Ukraine's top science building.

A drone slammed into the National Academy of Sciences in the middle of Kyiv, about a day ago, around 1:30pm local time.

No military target anywhere near it.

Video shows the drone coming in at a steep angle, then flames tearing through the building under a clear sky, with people leaning out of the windows above.

At least two people are dead. Several more are wounded.

One of them is Volodymyr Horbulin. He's 87. He used to run Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, and before that he was the first head of the country's space agency.

He was in the building when it was hit. He's only slightly wounded.

His assistant was killed.

A second person also died. Some reports say both of the dead were scientists.

And here's the thing. The very first reports said one person had died. That number has already been revised up to two.

The Academy sits in the historic centre of Kyiv, right by the German embassy, a cathedral, the opera house and government buildings.

So this isn't some strike on the edge of the city. It's in the heart of it.

Andriy Sybiha, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, says this was deliberate. He says quote "Russia's cynicism knows no bounds".

That's Ukraine's own government calling this a targeted hit on a science institution, not some stray drone.

Andrii Butenko, Ukraine's Education and Science Minister, says the strike was meant to scare educators, scientists and children.

Russia hasn't said a word about the Academy itself. Its defence ministry says it hit two data centres and some petrol stations in Kyiv that day. Nothing more.

And this was only one part of a much bigger night.

Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv's Mayor, says strikes across the city that day injured 19 people. Three of them were children.

A separate drone hit an office building in Dnipro and killed three people. The wounded count there is either 12 or 19, depending which outlet you read.

Overnight strikes on the wider Kyiv region killed three more people, including a citizen of Azerbaijan, and wounded eight others.

A jet-powered drone also hit a border checkpoint near Poland, in a village called Starovoitove. Nobody was killed or hurt there.