Russia strikes hospital in central Kyiv after SpaceX system falters again
Russia has attacked a hospital in central Kyiv, injuring three people, after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said speed restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield system had hampered Ukraine's ability to shoot down enemy drones.
The blast occurred at 3am when a drone smashed into the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, hitting the second floor and an adjoining 19th-century building. The six-storey hospital is located in the Shevchenkivskyi district, not far from the Danish and Romanian embassies.
Three people were injured in the attack, which blew out windows in nearby buildings including the National Academy of Arts. Firefighters led dazed patients to safety as smoke billowed from the burning structure.
We were asleep when there was this massive boom. We all jumped out of bed straight away. There was glass all over the floor. People were running about … If it had hit a little further to the left it would have been much worse.
Starshield system failure
Zelenskyy had reported that SpaceX's Starshield system was experiencing significant disruptions again, after an unexplained slowdown last month. The Ukrainian military's version of Starlink is crucial for intercepting enemy drones, but speed restrictions have reportedly allowed some Russian aerial sorties to get through.
The White House has yet to explain why the service has been throttled for a second time. The timing coincides with intense US-led shuttle diplomacy, with Donald Trump seemingly pressuring Zelenskyy to make territorial concessions to Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Diplomatic tensions rise
Trump's emissaries, son-in-law Jared Kushner and real estate developer Steve Witkoff, met Putin in Moscow on Thursday before flying to Dublin to brief Zelenskyy. Kremlin negotiators are demanding Ukraine hand over four Ukrainian provinces and calling for a new European security architecture that would effectively roll back Nato to its pre-1997 posture.
France's president Emmanuel Macron emphasized Europe's necessary role in the peace process, stating: Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine. At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans.
Energy infrastructure hit
Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight caused power outages in 12 regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Rivne, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv.
Deputy energy minister Artem Nekrasov reported that energy workers are working at an intensified pace, but new attacks and constant air raid alerts are complicating repairs. In Kyiv, the orthopaedic hospital's director Ronan Derkach confirmed medical services had been temporarily suspended as cleanup operations began, with 30 patients taken to safety.
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