A Russian drone struck the central headquarters of Ukraine's security service in Kyiv on Friday, wounding at least 12 people and prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to promise a response that mirrors the strike, according to Ukrainian officials and local authorities.

The strike hit the SBU building on Volodymyrska Street, opposite the historic St. Sophia Cathedral, Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. He said the drone was aimed directly at the office of the acting head of the security service, Oleksandr Poklad, who was unharmed, according to the SBU. An image published by Ukrainska Pravda showed black smoke pouring from windows of the building, and an AFP reporter saw several ambulances nearby.

Zelensky said he had instructed Poklad to deliver an 'appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike' to the Russians. He added that the 'geography of our response has been determined'.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strike a 'major escalation' and said in a post on X that 'Moscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace - laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy'.

The attack occurred as the air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified, with Moscow's air strikes on the Ukrainian capital extending into a 10th day, according to LBC. It was the first time the security agency's headquarters had been hit since the start of Russia's invasion in 2022, according to CNA.

US envoys head to Kyiv and Moscow

The strike came as US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Moscow and then Kyiv over the weekend and into early next week, a US official told Reuters on Friday. Trump's lead negotiators, who have met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before, were due to make their first visit to Kyiv, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Zelensky said Friday that he was expecting Witkoff and Kushner to visit Kyiv on Sunday, after visiting Moscow. He said in a Telegram post that Ukraine will refrain from airstrikes during the negotiations and called on Russia to reciprocate to allow the talks to proceed safely. 'As with previous diplomatic visits by the American side, we will ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace so that the negotiators can arrive safely,' Zelensky said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm reports that Kushner and Witkoff would visit Moscow, according to 1News.

Escalation across both sides

The strike on the security service headquarters coincided with a 'massive' overnight Russian attack on the Odesa region that killed one person and injured at least five others, including a child, regional head Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. Overnight strikes elsewhere in Ukraine killed two police officers in Dnipro, and a drone attack in Kyiv wounded three people after hitting a residential building, officials said.

In Russia, a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike hit the Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the nearby district of Sirius, regional officials said Friday. The attack sparked a blaze at an oil depot in Sochi, and Russian media outlets reported two depots were hit, with one fire in Sochi and another in Sirius. Putin last month decreed that the state temporarily can seize critical infrastructure facilities if private owners fail to protect them from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Finnish authorities said they were investigating how a Russian-made drone ended up on a rocky shoreline in the Pellinge archipelago east of Helsinki. Finland's Border Guard said what appears to be a Geoscan 701 drone, manufactured by a Russian company, was found on the shore. State broadcaster Yle reported the drone was discovered Tuesday by a fisherman.