Russia intensifies drone strikes on Kyiv, hitting SBU headquarters

Over the past ten days, Kyiv has faced a relentless aerial campaign of Russian drone and missile strikes. On Wednesday, attacks in central Kyiv wounded 11 people and damaged university buildings, forcing 160 students to evacuate. Simultaneously, strikes in the Odesa region caused power outages for over 350,000 households. The escalation continued on Friday when a drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) in central Kyiv, near the UNESCO-protected Saint Sophia Cathedral, resulting in at least seven injuries.

The strike on the SBU headquarters marks a significant escalation, as direct hits on high-level Ukrainian government infrastructure have been rare throughout the four-and-a-half-year conflict. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed the targeting of the SBU office and vowed a tangible, retaliatory response. This wave of attacks, which Russian President Vladimir Putin recently characterized as part of a campaign of massive strikes, coincides with Ukrainian concerns regarding energy infrastructure security and a critical shortage of Western-supplied missile interceptors.

Ukrainian authorities remain in a state of high alert as emergency services continue to operate at blast sites. President Zelenskiy has ordered that preparations for a symmetrical military response be finalized.