SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: April 17, 2025

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Dnipro State Medical University

Region & Country:Europe | Ukraine

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On April 17, 2025, a Russian drone strike caused significant damage to several buildings, including the main building and student dormitories, at Dnipro State Medical University.

Photos show damage to university buildings, including shattered windows and walls. The university’s rector, Tatyana Pertseva, reported that part of the main building was completely destroyed, and that the windows were shattered. The vice-rector, Viktor Samko, also reported damage to rooms that held the university’s museum and the library. There were no reported deaths or injuries on campus.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about military forces targeting higher education facilities in armed conflict. Parties to a conflict may only attack legitimate military targets; where a party suspects that a civilian facility — such as a university building — is being used for military purposes, that party has a duty to take every action practicable to verify that this suspicion is correct before initiating an attack. In the event of such an attack, parties must take all practicable precautions to avoid or minimize damage to civilian facilities. Further, parties must refrain from launching attacks which may be expected to cause disproportionate damage to civilian facilities.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://suspilne.media/dnipro/996781-duze-vazko-ce-misce-dla-mene-ridne-vnaslidok-masovanoi-dronovoi-ataki-na-dnipro-poskodzenij-medicnij-universitet/
https://24tv.ua/ataka-bpla-dnipro-17-kvitnya-2025-bezpilotnik-vluchiv-dah-medichnogo_n2801569
https://www.facebook.com/DniproMedUniversity/posts/%EF%B8%8F%D0%B4%D0%B4%D0%BC%D1%83%EF%B8%8F%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%94-%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%94%D1%97-%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%EF%B8%8F-%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B4%D0%B4%D0%BC%D1%83-%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE-%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%96%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9%D0%B7%D0%B1%D1%96%D1%80%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80/1143302611143790/