A Russian attack drone slammed into one of Kyiv’s main trauma hospitals in the early hours of Friday, wrecking part of its second floor and a neighbouring 19th-century building. Three people were hurt at the state-run orthopaedics and trauma institute, about 30 patients had to be moved to safety, and rescuers pulled seven people out of the damaged wards.
Located in Shevchenkivskyi, the building is only minutes on foot from where Denmark and Romania keep their diplomatic missions. Glass shattered on the opposite side of the road too, the arts academy among the buildings hit by the shock wave. Roman Derkach, who runs the clinic, suspended treatment until crews could clean up the rubble. One witness said a slightly different angle would have meant far worse damage, calling an attack on wounded people “really mean”.
For Volodymyr Zelensky, the attack is tied to a row with an American tech giant that has absorbed his government for days. He says Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink network, now stops working above 161 km/h (100 mph) along the whole front line and over occupied land. That limit, he argues, leaves Ukrainian interceptor drones unable to chase jet-powered Shaheds, so attackers have to be engaged closer to cities, which gives Russia more openings.
SpaceX rejects the claim. It told Axios the reports were false and nothing had changed, and told Ukraine’s defence ministry the issue was technical. Zelensky is unconvinced, saying daily tests in several directions return the same result. Restricting service over occupied areas, he warned, amounts to partly treating them as no longer Ukrainian.
Kyiv has told its foreign and defence ministers to press the State Department, the Pentagon and SpaceX for answers, and a bipartisan Ukraine caucus in the US Congress has demanded that full access be restored. Russian strikes on the power grid meanwhile left parts of twelve regions without electricity.
