A new attack against the headquarters of the Security Service in Kiev by Russia took place this Friday when a few meters away, in another building, the new Spanish ambassador to Ukraine, Adela Díaz Bernárdez, accompanied by the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, was presenting her credentials to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. All of them were unharmed, although the event had to be suspended. Zelensky promised to take reprisals while Moscow continued its constant airstrikes on the capital for the tenth consecutive day.
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A dense column of black smoke rose in the center of Kiev after the attack, which represents a new escalation of the conflict. At least seven people were injured, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.
“I strongly condemn the Russian attack against the headquarters of the Security Service in Kyiv, near the Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site,” wrote Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares on his social networks. The minister denounced that the attack “is an unacceptable escalation,” that “goes against civilians, heritage, and peace.”
Albares, in his message on social media, took the opportunity to once again send all his support to the ambassador and her team, “who do a great job under very difficult conditions.”
During more than four and a half years of war with Russia, the Ukrainian government buildings have rarely suffered damage from drone and missile attacks.
The SBU is fundamental to Ukraine’s war efforts, as it carries out deep and high-impact attacks to damage Russian war machinery and its energy infrastructure.
“The drone was aimed directly at the office of the head of the Security Service in that building,” Zelensky said via the Telegram app. It was not immediately clear if any SBU members were among the injured.
Collboni, after the attack: “It confirms why Barcelona had to be here”
The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, condemned the Russian attack this Friday on the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kiev: “What we experienced today confirms why Barcelona had to be here; when Kiev is attacked, Europe is attacked.” He said this Friday in a post on Instagram picked up by Europa Press, in which he lamented that the attack is an “unacceptable escalation that again puts the civilian population at risk and moves away from a just and lasting peace.” The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who met with Collboni and the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, on his trip to the country this Thursday, announced the attack on social media, although he did not specify the number of victims.
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Zelensky said he ordered “an appropriate and tangible response and, as far as possible, one that would reflect this attack, directed at the Russians once everything was ready.”
Numerous ambulances and emergency services were heading to the scene, located in the historic center of the city, near the Saint Sophia Cathedral, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The owner of a popular bakery, Zavertailo, stated on Telegram that his establishment, located opposite the SBU building, was destroyed in the attack. A woman shouted on the phone that she had stepped out briefly to buy tobacco and that the explosion startled her.
The capital of Ukraine has been subjected to continuous Russian drone attacks for 10 days. On Wednesday, a university in the city center was also hit.
“I think (people) can get used to this. In the center of Kiev, and in the center of Moscow. The situation will get worse, I am convinced of it,” said Oleh, 33, who preferred not to give his last name.
The SBU is a huge and secretive agency responsible for ambitious operations against Russia, such as the 2022 bomb attack on a Russian bridge leading to occupied Crimea and a 2025 drone attack that hit Russian strategic bombers.
It is also widely considered one of the main entities responsible for a campaign of covert assassinations of high-ranking Russian military officials and other figures whom Ukraine accuses of committing war crimes. Russia has denounced these assassinations as terrorist attacks.
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