A Russian drone hit a modernist building near Kyiv's Central Railway Station on Wednesday, September 23, known to residents as the "Shayba," sparking a fire inside the building.
The modernist experimental building with a suspended roof was constructed in 1973 as an experimental covered Railway Market, designed by architect Alla Anishchenko. The circular structure, 52 meters in diameter, had three levels: a basement level, a ground floor and a balcony, with about 140 retail spaces in total.
As Ukrainian local historian Semen Shyrochin recalled, only six markets with such structures were built, and following the demolition of the Anzhi-Bazar market in Makhachkala, five remain: all in Ukraine, two of them in Kyiv. The other similar structure in the capital is a department store on Pecherska Square, built in 1984.
In the late 1980s, the Railway Market was converted into an Okean store; in the 1990s, the Kyiv Universal Exchange operated there, and later the premises housed the Velyka Kyshenia supermarket.
In 2022, Kalush Orchestra filmed a teaser for the song Stefaniia inside the building. The group won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song that same year.
In March 2025, a registration card for the identified cultural heritage site was submitted to the Kyiv Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, but the building had not yet received protected status.
