CCTV Shows Russian Drone Strike on Kyiv School

Key Points:

• A Russian drone struck School No. 12 in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district on Thursday morning, damaging the building but causing no injuries as 104 children and 60 staff were safely in the underground shelter following an air raid alert.
• The drone’s warhead failed to detonate, preventing what could have been a catastrophic outcome in a building housing children and staff; the unexploded payload was recovered after the strike.
• This attack is part of an escalating pattern of Russian drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian cities, with educational facilities repeatedly damaged—Human Rights Watch reports over 314 schools in Kyiv alone have been hit since February 2022.
• International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilian objects like schools unless used for military purposes, and such deliberate strikes may constitute war crimes; Ukraine has responded by expanding underground shelters and remote education to protect children.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the damaged school, praising the staff’s actions for saving lives and emphasizing ongoing efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses against increasingly sophisticated Russian drone attacks.