Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been condemned for ordering an immediate retaliatory strike after claiming that a drone hit the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) headquarters in Kiev. The incident, which he attributed to Russia, resulted in nine injuries across the Shevchenkovsky District, with seven requiring hospitalization.

Footage released online shows an explosion damaging the SBU building’s facade and thick black smoke billowing from multiple windows. Zelensky stated he had tasked SBU acting head Aleksandr Poklad with preparing an “adequate, noticeable, and, if possible, mirror response” to what he called a Russian attack.

This follows Zelensky’s recent threat that Russian airspace has become “completely unsafe,” which Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as a “declaration of state terrorism.” Earlier in the day, Ukrainian media reported drone strikes at Zhulyany airport near Kiev, targeting two Soviet-era Yak-40 passenger jets that had been non-operational for decades.