Russian drone strike hits hospital in central Kyiv, injuring three

A Russian drone struck the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics in central Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, causing a fire and damaging part of the building. The attack hit the second floor of the six-storey hospital and also affected an adjoining 19th-century structure. Three people were injured, and patients were evacuated as emergency crews responded to the scene.

The strike took place at about 3am in Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi district, an area close to several western embassies and other civilian buildings. Nearby windows were blown out, including at the National Academy of Arts across the road. Witnesses described smoke rising from the hospital yard as firefighters led patients to safety.

Officials and witnesses said the attack narrowly missed patients inside the facility. One witness said people were asleep when a loud blast shook the building and glass covered the floor. He said the shock wave was felt across the site and that the damage could have been worse if the drone had struck slightly further to the left.

The hospital is a major medical facility in the capital, making the strike significant beyond the immediate injuries. The attack comes amid a broader escalation in Russian strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure. Recent attacks have also hit power plants, passenger trains and bridges across the Dnipro river, according to the account provided by Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv has described these strikes as part of a campaign intended to pressure a weary population, while the latest hospital hit adds to concerns about the vulnerability of medical and other civilian sites in the capital. The incident also comes as Ukraine continues to rely on air-defence systems to counter repeated drone attacks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said speed restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield system had made it harder to shoot down enemy drones, and that some Russian aerial sorties had got through because interceptor systems using the satellite service could not reach the necessary speed.

The same report said Russia claimed to have shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones overnight, one of the largest swarms launched by Kyiv, and said at least four people were killed in Russia's Volgograd region. What remains unclear is the full extent of the damage inside the hospital and whether the injured were patients, staff or visitors. It is also not clear how long the facility will remain affected after the fire and structural damage.

Further official updates are likely to focus on the condition of the injured, the scale of repairs needed and whether the strike will prompt additional air-defence measures in the capital.

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