"The strike hit the room above his office": details of the attack on the Academy of Sciences

Former Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbulin was injured on 28 September 2026 as a result of a Russian strike on the building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. His personal assistant, according to preliminary information, was killed.

The information about the wounding of Volodymyr Horbulin was confirmed by two sources of BBC News Ukraine.

“The strike hit a room that was one floor above his office. Volodymyr Pavlovych is already at home; he sustained minor injuries from broken glass,” said an informed interlocutor.

According to him, Horbulin’s personal assistant Natalia, according to preliminary information, was killed. She was likely near the building at the moment of the strike. Later, Volodymyr Horbulin himself confirmed to Suspilne that he had been at work during the Russian strike on the NASU building and sustained a minor injury. According to him, his assistant who was near the building, was killed.

Around 13:30 a Russian drone hit the presidium building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on Volodymyrska Street. Later the Kyiv City Military Administration reported one woman killed and five injured.

Volodymyr Horbulin is a Ukrainian statesman, scientist and academician. He is called the “father” of Ukraine’s rocket and space industry. He headed the National Space Agency of Ukraine, was Secretary of the NSDC in the 1990s, an advisor to several presidents of Ukraine and director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies. Horbulin also played a significant role in shaping the defense-industrial complex and the rocket and space program of independent Ukraine. In August 2025 he received the “National Legend of Ukraine” honor. In June 2020 the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Volodymyr Horbulin a member of the supervisory board of the state concern “Ukroboronprom”, where he chaired the supervisory board.

Earlier we wrote:

• Two killed and at least eight injured: Kyiv attacked with ballistic missiles
• Could Ukrainians be left without the internet: what will happen after Russia’s strikes on data centers
• Attack on the Kyiv region: 27 killed in Bucha district after Russia’s strike and a powerful detonation
• Three ballistic missiles burned down the “life’s work”: the largest Rozetka warehouse near Kyiv destroyed
• 17 killed and 44 injured: Russia fired 24 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the region