Photos: Russian drone strikes pound civilian targets across Kyiv

Russian drones battered civilian sites across Kyiv on Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 80 as Moscow's forces kept up round-the-clock bombardment of the Ukrainian capital, according to Aljazeera English.

Among the targets hit was Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, located in Kyiv's historic center near the German embassy and several key government buildings. A high-speed drone slammed into the academy, sparking a fire that engulfed part of the structure. Staff members were seen fleeing the building down firefighters' ladders as rescue crews battled the blaze, Aljazeera English reported. A woman died in the strike and several others were injured.

The attacks also damaged a hospital and a private medical center in the capital, along with a coffee shop in a residential neighborhood, where a destroyed car and a drone engine were later found among the wreckage, according to the outlet. Apartment buildings, offices, petrol stations and data centers elsewhere in Kyiv were also struck as part of the wave of drone assaults.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko denounced the strikes, calling them "pure terror" intended to disrupt daily life and undermine civilian morale, Aljazeera English reported.

The damage was not confined to Kyiv. In Dnipro, a strike on an office building killed three people, while attacks on Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa left dozens more wounded, according to the report.

Russia has maintained that its strikes are aimed at military-related infrastructure. Ukrainian officials, however, accuse Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in an effort to weaken the country's economy and pressure it into concessions amid stalled peace negotiations, Aljazeera English said.

The strikes come as the war between Russia and Ukraine approaches its four-and-a-half-year mark, with efforts to reach a peace settlement still unresolved.