Russia strikes Ukraine Security Service headquarters in central Kyiv

A Russian drone struck the Kyiv headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, on Friday, in a rare direct hit on a key government building that highlights Ukraine’s dire shortages of air defenses. The daytime strike - the first time the SBU building has been hit in the four-and-a-half year conflict - came after days of near continuous aerial assaults by Russia on the Ukrainian capital. Authorities said 12 people were injured in the attack and that emergency services were at the scene. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone was aimed directly at the office of the SBU’s chief Oleksandr Poklad in that building. The SBU said later Poklad was safe and was not injured in the attack. “I instructed Poklad to deliver an appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike, to the Russians once everything is ready. Our military will support this response,” Zelensky said. Kyiv has faced eight days of attacks, with strikes hitting multiple buildings inside the city center as well as warehouses and factories – including one making Coca-Cola – in the suburbs. At least 53 people have been killed and 134 injured in Kyiv city and the wider Kyiv region since the start of these near non-stop attacks last month. But the strike against the SBU is a major escalation – and a sign that Kyiv is increasingly unable to defend its key assets against Russian attacks as it struggles with critical shortages of interceptor missiles. Most of the attacks over the past few days were by jet-powered drones. These killer machines fly at speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour (310 miles per hour), evading Ukraine’s air defenses. They are also too fast for Kyiv’s mobile fire groups, so the only way to shoot them down is with ground-to-air missiles or fighter jets – both of which are in extremely limited supply in Ukraine. Russia has been targeting Ukrainian government buildings since the start of the war, regularly launching mass aerial attacks against Kyiv. And while it has hit a handful of them in the past, it has never managed to strike a target of such importance during day time. Andrii Sybiha, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, said the attack “demanded resolute response.” “Moscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace — laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy,” Sybiha said, pointing to the fact that US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are planning to visit Moscow and Kyiv in the coming days. “We call on international partners to unequivocally condemn these actions and step up pressure on the Putin regime,” he said. The SBU is Ukraine’s internal security agency, akin to the FBI in the US or MI5 in the United Kingdom. Among others, it investigates Russian crimes on Ukrainian territory. The agency’s building sits right at the heart of historical Kyiv, across the street from the UNESCO-listed Saint Sophia Cathedral and up the road from two other landmarks: the Golden Gate and the National Opera. This is story has been updated.