Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
4 in September a Russian drone hit the building of the SBU Central Directorate on Volodymyrska Street in Kyiv. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the UAV was aimed at the office of acting head of the security service Oleksandr Poklad. How often attempts are made on the heads of security services, what is known about this attack, and how Ukraine will respond — in the GORDON piece.
What is known
The president was the first to report the drone strike on the security service building.
"The drone was directed straight at the SBU chief's office... I instructed Poklad to respond adequately, noticeably, and, if possible, in a mirror fashion to the Russians for this strike once everything is prepared," Zelenskyy said.
He later met with Poklad and reported that they "determined the geography of the response." In the meeting photo a painting of the Kremlin on fire is visible.
The SBU also commented on the attack.
"As for the damaged building, it will certainly be restored. And the Russians will receive a painful response to their strikes — even more special operations, exposed agent networks, and destroyed enemies," the service promised.
Several other buildings on Volodymyrska were damaged by the strike, including the consistory in the National Preserve "Saint Sophia Cathedral." 12 people were injured.
Reactions
The Russian attack on the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine is a serious escalation that requires decisive responses, emphasized Foreign Minister Dmytro Sibiha.
"Moscow carried out this strike during a renewed campaign for peace, exposing its true unwillingness to pursue diplomacy," he said.
MP from Servant of the People Maryana Bezuhla pointed out that the strike was aimed at Poklad.
"Is there anyone in the SBU the Russians truly hate and see as so uncompromising that they only want to destroy them?" she wrote.
Support for the security chief also came from MP from European Solidarity Oleksiy Honcharenko. "That means even more Russian generals will start dying in Russia," he is convinced.
Well-known blogger Ihor Lachenkov believes this attack proves that "never before has the Russkies burned so much from SBU actions as they do now."
The drone attack on the SBU building was not controlled from the Russian Federation, said presidential advisor for defense technology development Serhiy Beskrestnov (Flesh).
"My personal opinion: the Shahed was guided and aimed online via a Mesh radio relay with internet access, which a Russian agent turned on somewhere nearby (up to 5 km) for a short period during the attack. Such a relay is about the size of half a school backpack. There were no other Shaheds in the air at that time. Therefore control through a chain from the RF is impossible," he said.
Commenters on the Russian opposition outlet Meduza are massively expecting a "response" against the FSB building on Lubyanka in Moscow.
World experience
How often attempts are made on the heads of intelligence and security services is not precisely known — one can assume that most of them remain classified from the general public.
Read also
Zelenskyy on attempts: It's like COVID-19: at first people didn't know what to do about it and it was very frightening, then you just get the data
21 November, 08.34
War in Ukraine
However, they have occurred repeatedly even during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Former head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov survived more than 10 attempts in total. And in 2024 the SBU announced the uncovering of an FSB agent network that was preparing the murder of Budanov, then-SBU head Vasyl Maliuk, and Zelenskyy. After the failure, Putin removed the then-head of the 5-th FSB service, Maliuk recounted.
The president himself said back in 2022 that there were "very many" attempts to kill him.
In Russia, at the beginning of 2026 there was an attempt on the first deputy chief of the GRU, Volodymyr Alekseyev. He was shot several times near his apartment in Moscow. He survived. The Russians then blamed Ukraine but provided no evidence, and Ukraine denied involvement. International media linked this attempt to an "internal conflict" in the RF.
There have also been successful attempts on heads of security services in history. One of the most famous is the Czechoslovak resistance attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA), which combined the Gestapo, SD, and the criminal police of the Third Reich. Operation Anthropoid was carried out on 27 May 1942 in Prague — Heydrich died of his wounds on 4 June. For his elimination the Nazis carried out massive reprisals, destroying the villages of Lidice and Ležáky.
Read also
Israel prepared an operation for 15 years to sabotage pagers in Lebanon — media
20 September, 01.36
World
There are also many known successful special operations by Mossad and the CIA and attempts by local insurgents and terrorists on the heads of intelligence and security services in Middle Eastern and African countries — in Syria, Tunisia, Afghanistan, or even in France.
In the summer of 2025, during Israeli airstrikes the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' intelligence organization Mohammad Kazemi was killed, and less than a year later his successor Majid Khademi was also eliminated. That was not the end for Israel and the United States — and in February 2026 they dropped dozens of bombs on the residence of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killing him along with a group of the country's leadership representatives."
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Луб'янко, спиш?" Що відомо про замах росіян на Поклада і як відреагували в соцмережах. Головне". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
