A building used by Boeing in Kyiv was badly damaged in a recent large-scale Russian air attack, in what appeared to be a deliberate strike on the US aerospace company, according to six people familiar with the matter and photographs seen by the Financial Times.
The building was among the targets hit on Sunday night in one of the most intense attacks of the war, according to two Boeing employees, three Ukrainian officials and the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC).
Images published online by Ukraine’s state emergency service and verified by the FT showed severe damage to the building and first responders putting out a fire inside.
Boeing is one of the most prominent American businesses present in Ukraine, with its operations largely focused on engineering and technical support. It has a relationship with Ukrainian aircraft maker Antonov, known for producing heavy transport aircraft, including military-capable designs. Boeing executives met with their Antonov counterparts and Ukraine’s defence minister earlier this year to discuss new joint ventures.
The overnight barrage Sunday into Monday was among the most intense of the war, with Russia’s army launching 315 drones, two ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles at targets in Kyiv, Odesa and other cities across Ukraine. Moscow has intensified its aerial attacks on the country following Kyiv’s surprise drone attack earlier this month deep into Russian territory, which damaged Russian bombers stationed as far away as the Arctic Circle.
A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment on the attack except to say the company prioritises the safety and security of its employees, none of whom were harmed during the bombardment. The spokesperson praised the resilience of staff operating under difficult and dangerous circumstances.
The company employed more than 1,000 people across Ukraine and had continued to operate largely unhindered in the country despite more than three years of Russia’s full-scale war, said one of the employees and ACC’s president, Andy Hunder.
Despite the damage to its building in Kyiv, there had been “no operational disruption” as a result of Monday’s attack, Andriy Koryagin, deputy general director of Boeing’s operation in Ukraine, told the FT.
The other Boeing employee said the company had been actively hiring for roles in Ukraine. A job advertisement published on June 2 showed the company was searching for an aircraft interior design and certification engineering manager to join its operations in Kyiv.
The apparent targeting of and the damage incurred to such a high-profile US company on Ukrainian soil could anger President Donald Trump, who has admitted to growing increasingly frustrated by Moscow. In addition to increased aerial strikes, Russia has renewed its ground offensive in eastern Ukraine, as peace talks are stalling due to President Vladimir Putin’s uncompromising position and maximalist demands.
“Russian strikes on American companies in Ukraine are yet another example of Putin’s disregard for US peace efforts,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha told the FT. “The fact that Russia targets American businesses emphasises the importance of continued US involvement — both in peace efforts and in the security of Ukraine and the rest of Europe.”
The strike could also raise questions about whether Russia is expanding its focus to include western companies with connections to Ukraine’s defence and aviation sectors.
Western officials have warned about an escalating campaign of Russian sabotage and subversion against US and European targets across Europe. Many of those have links to western aid being shipped to Ukraine and to companies producing or shipping weapons and other materiel to the country, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think-tank.
Last year, Boeing and Antonov signed a memorandum of understanding to explore opportunities to collaborate on defence-related projects. That co-operation was discussed further at the Munich Security Conference in February, when Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov met Steve Parker, chief executive, chief operating officer and interim president of Boeing, defence, space and security.
“The central focus of the meeting was co-operation in manufacturing ammunition and aerial strike systems. Special attention was given by the parties to the prospect of jointly producing unmanned aerial systems,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said at the time.
The strike on Boeing’s building also adds to a growing list of Russian attacks on industrial facilities, including repeated strikes on the Antonov plants, power plants and substations, and defence production sites. Ukrainian officials say the attacks are part of Moscow’s effort to degrade the country’s ability to manufacture and repair weapons.
The aerospace company is not the first US company being affected by the war. Hunder, the ACC president, said 32 per cent of its nearly 700 members have had employees killed in Russian attacks since 2022.
Nearly half of the US chamber’s members had also reported damage or destruction to their facilities — ranging from blown-out windows to the complete destruction of plants, office buildings and other sites, he said.
A Coca-Cola facility in the Kyiv region was occupied by Russian forces and destroyed in the early days of the 2022 invasion. A stash of Jack Daniel’s whiskey stored in that facility turned out to be of help: when the Russian soldiers discovered it, they drank it all and hunkered down, which slowed their advance towards the capital, Hunder said.
In 2014, during Russia’s first covert invasion of eastern Ukraine, its forces seized a facility belonging to the agricultural giant Cargill. The company later lost another facility to Russian forces in the south-central city of Kakhovka.
