On the afternoon of 4 September, a Russian drone struck the building of Ukraine's Security Service in Kyiv, flying straight at the office of the acting chief, Oleksandr Poklad. One source close to the security services was blunt about the mood afterward, telling LIGA.net that everyone was "not just furious — everyone is absolutely livid."

It was a rare direct hit on a top government building — the first time the SBU headquarters had been struck in the four-and-a-half-year war. The central building stands on Volodymyrska Street opposite St. Sophia's Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Poklad was unharmed, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had ordered a response that mirrors the attack.

Beskrestnov: a planned operation, guided from the ground

Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, President Zelenskyy's adviser on defense technologies, argued the strike was too precise to be a stray hit.

"My personal opinion: the Geran was controlled and guided online through a MESH radio relay with internet access, which a Russian agent switched on somewhere nearby — within five kilometers — for a short period during the attack," he wrote.

Such a relay is small, about the size of half a school backpack, he said. He added that no other jet-powered Gerans were in the air over Kyiv at the moment of the strike, which, in his view, rules out the drone being flown along a relay chain reaching back into Russia and points instead to local control.

Europe calls it a major escalation

Katarína Mathernová, head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said the drone hit near where she and her colleagues live and work, and her Kyiv staff again had to leave their desks for shelter. Under her post, former EU Ambassador to Ukraine José Manuel Pinto Teixeira called Russia a terror state.

"Time for Ukrainian drones visiting the center of Moscow," he said.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russian drones had struck "the very heart of Kyiv," and pressed for tighter sanctions and deeper isolation of Moscow.

"The Kremlin’s objective remains unchanged: inflict maximum carnage, sow terror, and trample every norm of international law," he said.

A Russian drone struck the central building of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) on Volodymyrska Street in central Kyiv on September 4, injuring 12 people, according to Ukrainian officials.

The strike hit the SBU’s central headquarters directly opposite St. Sophia’s Cathedral, one of Kyiv’s best-known historic landmarks.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine of the injured were hospitalized, with two in serious condition.

Drone targeted SBU chief’s office

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drone was directed toward the office of SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad inside the building.

The SBU confirmed that the strike was deliberately aimed at Poklad’s office, but said he was not injured.

Zelenskyy said he had ordered Poklad to prepare a “meaningful” and, if possible, symmetrical response to the Russian attack, with Ukraine’s military supporting the operation.

Later, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had already determined the "geography" of its response and would choose the timing based on when it could achieve an effective result.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strike on the SBU headquarters “major escalation that demands resolute responses,” saying it showed Moscow’s rejection of diplomacy during a renewed push for peace.

Kyiv faces near-daily Russian drone attacks

The strike occurred in the middle of the day in one of central Kyiv’s busiest areas, with large numbers of civilians and vehicles on nearby streets, according to Euromaidan Press sources on the ground.

The attack came amid a sustained Russian campaign of drone attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding oblast, with the capital repeatedly targeted by large waves of jet-powered Geran drones and other weapons.

The attacks have increasingly brought explosions, fires and falling debris to residential and civilian areas across the capital and its suburbs, forcing emergency crews to respond repeatedly as the city remains under a persistent aerial threat.

Russia’s new models of Geran drones, developed from Iranian-designed Shaheds, are harder for Ukrainian air defenses to intercept. Moscow is deploying them in growing numbers, increasing the chances that drones reach Ukrainian cities and intensifying the threat to civilians.

Building damaged and fire breaks out

The drone strike caused a fire in the building, which emergency crews later extinguished.

Klitschko said sections of the building’s ceiling and an exterior wall were destroyed. Emergency services remained at the scene after the fire was brought under control.

The SBU said the damaged headquarters would be restored.

The agency also vowed that Russia would face a response through further Ukrainian operations, including strikes against Russian assets and networks.

Historic Sofia Kyivska complex damaged

The Russian strike also damaged a building within the National Conservation Area “Sofia Kyivska,” located directly across Volodymyrska Street from the SBU headquarters, according to Suspilne.

According to the reserve’s director general Nelia Kukovalska, the blast shattered windows and destroyed the glass entrance structure of the complex’s Consistory building, whose exterior faces Volodymyrska Street.

No one at the reserve was injured, as staff and visitors took shelter. The historic St. Sophia Cathedral itself was not damaged, according to Kukovalska.

The nearby Zavertailo bakery was also damaged, though all staff and customers survived after taking shelter in the basement.