Russia Strikes Ukraine's Intelligence HQ as U.S. Envoys Head to Region

A Russian drone hit the central headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service in Kyiv on Friday afternoon, striking the personal office of the agency's acting director and wounding at least a dozen people, even as American peace envoys readied weekend trips to both Moscow and Kyiv in a fresh bid to bring the nearly five-year war to an end.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack in a Telegram post, saying the drone had been aimed squarely at the office of Security Service chief Oleksandr Poklad. After speaking with Poklad in the aftermath, Zelensky said he ordered the official to prepare a response that would, wherever feasible, mirror the nature of the Russian strike.

"The drone was aimed directly at the office of the Head of the Security Service in that building," Zelensky wrote. He added that emergency services were at the scene and that everyone affected would receive medical assistance.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the initial casualty count at a minimum of nine wounded. Bystanders near the building — which stands across the street from St. Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the heart of the capital — described hearing a loud explosion before dark smoke billowed over the city center. The blast shattered café windows in the surrounding area.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the strike as a "major escalation that demands resolute responses," accusing Russia of timing it to sabotage renewed diplomatic momentum. "Moscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace — laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy," he said.

The attack unfolded as U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner were set to fly to Moscow on Saturday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, before continuing to Kyiv on Sunday for talks with Zelensky, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It would be the first time either envoy has visited the Ukrainian capital; their earlier trip to Moscow, in January, yielded no progress.

Zelensky said Thursday that preliminary dates had been locked in and that Ukraine's negotiating team was in near-constant contact with the American side. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the Moscow meeting details, saying the public would be informed if and when those sessions materialized.

Putin, addressing an economic forum in Russia's Far East region Thursday, offered cautious optimism about a potential deal. "Is there a chance?" he said. "In my view, yes, there is." He showed no sign, however, of walking back demands for substantial Ukrainian territorial concessions — terms Kyiv and its European partners have rejected as tantamount to capitulation.

Russia has significantly stepped up daytime drone strikes on Ukrainian targets in recent weeks, increasingly deploying faster, jet-powered models that travel at roughly half the speed of a commercial airliner — making them considerably more difficult to shoot down than older propeller-driven versions. Ukraine Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russia fired approximately 2,800 such drones in August, up from around 1,500 in July and several times the number recorded in June. Ukraine's interception rate against the jet-powered type sits near 60 percent, compared with more than 90 percent against legacy propeller-driven models.

The SBU, as the Security Service is known, is the body that coordinates Ukraine's long-range strike operations inside Russian territory. Hitting its headquarters in daylight hours, in central Kyiv, amounted to a rare Russian success against a major government installation, officials said.

Separately, overnight Russian attacks on the Odesa region killed one person and wounded at least five others, including a child, local authorities said. Two police officers were also killed in Dnipro.

Russia's defense ministry additionally claimed Friday that its forces struck a cargo ship at the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk and a tanker in waters near Odesa.