They even struck Kyiv’s temple of science: This is not war, it is barbarity!

The news has just come in. In Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, in the city center, a Russian drone crashed directly into the building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The building is on fire. People are looking out of the windows to avoid being burned alive. Even watching the footage is difficult... Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that one woman was killed and three people were injured. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha voiced the grim reality: “They struck a building where scientists were working in the middle of the working day.” Zelenskyy says rescuers are still searching for people under the rubble.

Was the library, the scientific institution and the centuries-old archive hit?

It was... And under no circumstances was it accidental!

What will the Russian Defence Ministry say? The same old story again: “We struck a data center and disabled military communications.” It is a lie!

The building that was hit is the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, next to Taras Shevchenko National University, the Opera House and the German Embassy. It houses institutes, laboratories and centuries-old archives. There are no soldiers there — there are professors, scientists and books.

When they cannot achieve results on the battlefield, they strike science. Because the aim is not only to destroy the army, but also to destroy Ukraine’s intellect, heritage and memory.

Where have we seen this pattern before? In Khojaly, Aghdam and Shusha... Armenia also committed the same kind of barbarity: burning museums and destroying manuscripts. Now the same mentality has raised its head in Kyiv. The same vandalism, the same barbarity.

Was the archive hit? Yes! If the Academy is burning, the archives preserved there are burning too, along with laboratories and libraries.

The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences dates back to 1918. It preserves invaluable treasures related to the country’s language, history and science. It was also struck in July, when scientists were rescuing laboratory animals from the flames.

Now they have struck again. Because they know that if they cannot bring Ukraine to its knees, they must try to destroy it by leaving it uneducated and uprooted. They strike schools, universities and libraries so that future generations cannot be raised.

That is what fascism is!

This is not war; it is terror against civilians

The fact that the strike was carried out during working hours cannot be accidental. The aim is to cause more casualties. Zelenskyy is right: “Terror must not be normalized under any circumstances.”

Today, it was not only the Academy that was hit. Fires have also broken out in Darnytskyi and Obolonskyi districts. Last night alone, 496 drones and 74 missiles were reportedly launched. This is not warfare; it is an attempt to exhaust a city through fear and force it to surrender.

And the world is still watching. Sybiha is right to say: “Every attack that goes unanswered paves the way for the next one.”

A lesson for us too

If the Academy of Sciences is burning in Kyiv today, tomorrow a scientific institution may be targeted in another country. Because the logic of ignorance and aggression is the same everywhere.

Russia’s attack should be condemned as a crime against the entire scientific community. Libraries and academies are not military targets; they are the memory of humanity. Anyone who strikes them is not a soldier, but a vandal.

Today, Ukraine is defending not only its territory, but also its science, future and moral values. Our support should be with them.

May God rest the soul of the woman killed in Kyiv, and may the injured recover. No power that attacks science has ever emerged victorious in history. Those who burn books will sooner or later be consumed by that fire themselves...

Giymat Mahir