Scientists Igor Zima and Olesya Sokur died during the morning attack in the Pecherskуі district

On January 1, in the first drone attack on Kyiv in 2025, Doctor of Sciences Igor Zima and his entire family were killed: along with his wife and cat. This was reported by a family friend, the wife of the first secretary at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Kenya, Oleksiy Bobrovnikov, Daria Dushechkina.

“Just at home. In bed,” she wrote. And she admitted that if they were in Kyiv, they would most likely have celebrated the New Year at their home.

Daria recalls that Igor Zima and his wife Olesya were very cheerful people and loved company, delicious food and spending time in intellectual conversations. She wrote, that they had no children together. There is a niece in Kharkiv and hundreds of students.

Igor Grigorovich’s son, Andriy Mishchuk, went to war as a volunteer and died in November 2022.

“Igor Zima taught me more than any other of my teachers at work. He taught me how to talk to people,” Oleksiy Bobrovnikov wrote.

Later it became known that Igor’s wife is also a scientist, biologist Olesya Sokur.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the Russian UAV attack, the outstanding neurobiologist Igor Zyma and his wife, a scientist, Doctor of Biological Sciences Olesya Sokur, were killed,” wrote the Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi. “The family devoted almost their entire lives to science, working for many years at the “Institute of Biology and Medicine” of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.”

Igor Hryhorovych Zyma is a Doctor of Biological Sciences, taught at the Institute of Biology and Medicine of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. His scientific experience is over 40 years, he led a scientific group engaged in research in the field of neuro- and psychophysiology.

He taught the following subjects: “Physiology and Anatomy of Humans and Animals”, “Anatomy and Physiology of the Central Nervous System”, “Physiology of the Nervous System and Higher Nervous Activity”, “Neurophysiology”, “Physiology of Neural Networks”, “Evolution of Behavior and Anthropogenesis”.

17 buildings in the Pechersk district were damaged by falling drone debris. A humanitarian headquarters is working to help those affected by the Russian attack.

Six people are known to have been injured. Among the injured are two pregnant women.