Russian Drone Hits Kyiv School With 100 Children Sheltering Inside, but Warhead Fails to Explode
The 50-kilogram warhead tore into a stairwell and did not detonate, and everyone inside survived. Zelensky calls strikes on schools "a deliberate tactic."
A Russian drone slammed into a school in Kyiv on Thursday while more than 100 children and about 60 teachers sheltered inside, and the 50-kilogram warhead failed to explode, Ukrainian officials said. Everyone in the building survived.
The Geran-4 drone struck the four-story school in the capital's Solomianskyi district during an air raid alert that ran from 8:48 a.m. to 9:31 a.m., according to Ukrainian authorities. It hit a stairwell between the second and third floors, and the warhead pierced through to the stairs without detonating. The impact started a fire.
Specialists told Ukrainian media that a full detonation could have brought down all four floors. Bomb disposal experts removed the munition and destroyed it. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian forces also hit warehouse facilities in the same district during the attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said all of the children and teachers were safe and ordered officials to restore the school and equip it with independent power. "Striking schools and kindergartens is a deliberate tactic used by Russians," he said.
The strike came a day after Russia's heaviest assault on Ukraine's power system since the last heating season. On Wednesday, Russian drones and missiles killed three people in Kyiv and wounded seven, and air raid sirens sounded for more than 20 hours. Overnight into Thursday, further attacks injured one person and set fires in several districts of the capital. Zelensky described the sustained barrage as a "new escalation of terror."
The president also noted that Ukraine had used its domestically produced FP-7 ballistic missile in combat for the first time on Wednesday. Ukrainian air defenses, he said, remain stretched as Russia shifts its focus to energy infrastructure ahead of winter. "The closer to winter, the more such protection is needed," Zelensky said earlier this week about interceptor missiles.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down 78 of the 97 Russian attack drones launched on Thursday. Separately, Ukrainian officials said a Ukrainian MiG-29 was hit by a Russian missile during a combat mission the same day, killing the pilot.
Schools have been struck repeatedly since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and Ukrainian authorities have long said the attacks are intentional. Russia says it targets only military and military-linked infrastructure. Thursday's strike was notable because so many children were in the building when the drone hit, and because the failure of the warhead to detonate was the only thing that kept it from becoming a mass-casualty event.
Zelensky said the school would be restored with its own independent power supply so it can keep running during blackouts, a sign of how officials expect the energy campaign to shape the coming months.
