Major electronics manufacturer Samsung says that none of its employees were injured by a Russian missile strike that landed near its research and development office in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The near-miss was reported on Facebook by Andrii Skira, the director of the consumer electronics division at Samsung Ukraine. "Yes, 101 Tower biz.center was damaged today morning after Russian terrorists bomb attacks in Kyiv City (with Samsung Electronics Ukraine and Samsung R&D offices)," Skira wrote. "All Samsung employees were out of office. We are safe!"
Samsung confirmed the damage to the building in a statement sent to PC Gamer.
"We can confirm that none of our employees at Samsung Ukraine has been hurt," a Samsung spokesperson said. "Some of the office windows were damaged due to the impact from the blast that occurred nearby. We remain committed to ensuring the safety of our employees and will continue to closely monitor the situation."
Multiple people shared images and video clips of the damaged building on Twitter:
#Samsung Electronics regional headquarters in Kyiv hit by a Russian missile #Kiev #Ukraine #NATORussiaWar #Zaporizhzhia #Dnipro #Odessa #Lviv #KryvyiRog #NATORussiaWar pic.twitter.com/eqV34rvezzOctober 10, 2022
Yesterday, Samsung R&D Institute Ukraine Building was hit by a Russian missile.Samsung stated that none of their employees at Samsung Ukraine has been hurt. But, some of the building's windows were damaged due to the blast impact. pic.twitter.com/9YcKV2psYSOctober 11, 2022
Samsung office hit by Russian missile in #Kyiv #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineRussianWar #UkraineWar #UkraineRussiaWar #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/aXYCcQhLd4October 10, 2022
As reported by SamMobile, Samsung was one of many companies that cut back or halted its business in Russia following that country's invasion of Ukraine, announcing in March that it had stopped selling mobile phones, chips, and other products in Russia. The withdrawal from the phone market alone represented a big hit: According to a 2021 Statisa report, Samsung accounted for more than one-third of all smartphone sales in the third quarter of that year, although a more recent Statcounter report indicates that its total market share has declined to 22% as of September 2022.
Samsung is also a big player in the PC enthusiast market: It's leading the charge on the development of GAA technology, makes some very sweet SSDs, and has a 55-inch curved gaming monitor that will swallow you whole. Figuratively, of course.
Russia launched a missile strike against civilian targets in Ukraine on October 10, two days after an explosion damaged the Kerch Bridge that was erected by Russia in 2018 following its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. An official cause of the explosion has not yet been determined, but Russian president Vladimir Putin described it as a "terrorist" attack and promised that further such attacks will bring more "severe retaliation."
