User blog comment:The Milkman/BioWare's Lies/@comment-3130611-20120621034717/@comment-4950455-20120621035942

The Citadel does blow up in Destroy, but I believe the Patrick Weekes interview stated that large chunks of it (and the people inside) survived due to kinetic barriers or something. Presumably, Shepard is on one of those.

I can't remember ever seeing this explicitly said, though - can you provide a link?