Russia attacked the headquarters of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service in the heart of the capital, Kyiv, on Friday afternoon, aiming an exploding drone directly at the office of the agency’s director, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The blast at the central building of the Security Service of Ukraine, just across the street from the landmark St. Sophia Cathedral, came amid another day of intense bombardment in Kyiv.
Mr. Zelensky said on social media that the agency’s director, Oleksandr Poklad, had survived the strike. The Ukrainian leader added that he had ordered Mr. Poklad to devise a response that would mirror the Russian attack.
Emergency crews were responding at the scene. At least seven people were injured, according to Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
The attack came as the American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were planning imminent visits to Moscow and to Kyiv to try to restart stalled negotiations aimed at ending the war, Ukrainian officials said.
Kyiv has been subjected to barrages of missiles and drones for more than a week. At least six people have died in strikes in the city in the past 24 hours.
On Thursday, a Russian strike destroyed a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Kyiv region and a warehouse for the World Health Organization that stored humanitarian medical supplies.
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