A Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service in the center of Kyiv on Friday, hitting one of the country’s most sensitive state institutions only days before U.S. negotiators were expected to hold meetings in Moscow and Kyiv aimed at reviving efforts to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drone hit the SBU’s central building on Volodymyrska Street, directly across from St. Sophia Cathedral, one of Kyiv’s best-known historic landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Kyiv authorities later said 12 people had been wounded in the attack, with two in serious condition.

Zelenskyy said the drone was directed at the office of acting SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad. The Ukrainian president said he had instructed the security service to prepare a significant response and indicated that Ukraine’s military would support retaliatory action. Ukrainian officials did not immediately provide detailed information about the extent of damage inside the SBU complex or whether security-service personnel were among those injured.

The strike was notable because the SBU plays a central role in Ukraine’s intelligence, counterintelligence and special operations. The agency has been involved in deep-strike operations against military and infrastructure targets inside Russian-controlled territory and Russia itself. Direct damage to high-level government and security facilities in central Kyiv has been relatively uncommon during the more than four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attack a major escalation and emphasized its timing as diplomatic activity between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv appeared to be accelerating. The proximity of the strike to St. Sophia Cathedral also prompted concern about risks to cultural heritage in the historic center of the Ukrainian capital.

The attack coincided with plans for a new round of U.S. shuttle diplomacy. An American official told The Associated Press that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to travel first to Moscow and then to Kyiv over the weekend and into early next week. The official did not provide a precise public schedule for each stop.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s negotiating team had been in frequent contact with the American side and that preliminary dates for meetings had been established. He said Friday that he expected Witkoff and Kushner in Kyiv on Sunday. If the visit proceeds, it would be the pair’s first trip to the Ukrainian capital in their current negotiating role.

Witkoff and Kushner previously traveled to Moscow in January, where they met Russian President Vladimir Putin. That round of diplomacy did not produce a comprehensive settlement. Russian officials have continued to emphasize territorial issues as central to any long-term agreement, while Kyiv has opposed a settlement that would formalize Russian control over Ukrainian territory without acceptable security arrangements.

Uncertainty remained around the Moscow leg of the latest mission. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that the U.S. representatives would visit Moscow before traveling to Kyiv, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined Friday to confirm the reported schedule. The Associated Press said the U.S. official confirmed that both capitals were expected to be included in the trip.

Zelenskyy also sought to introduce a limited measure of restraint around the negotiations. He said Ukraine would refrain from airstrikes during the diplomatic process and called on Russia to reciprocate. Such a pause, even if temporary, could provide an early indication of whether the two sides are prepared to reduce military activity while American intermediaries conduct talks.

The challenge for Washington is that the diplomatic push is unfolding amid an intensifying air war. Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine overnight killed at least three people, according to local officials. In the southern Odesa region, one person was killed and at least five others, including a child, were injured in what regional authorities described as a large-scale Russian attack that damaged residential buildings.

In Dnipro, two police officers were killed in strikes, Ukrainian officials said. A separate drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv injured three people. The attacks illustrate the difficult environment surrounding any negotiation over a ceasefire: even while governments discuss possible diplomatic meetings, drones and missiles continue to hit cities and infrastructure far from the front line.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has continued long-range operations inside Russia. Russian regional officials said Ukrainian drones struck the Black Sea city of Sochi and the nearby Sirius district Friday, igniting a fire at an oil facility. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil and energy infrastructure as part of an effort to raise the economic cost of the war and disrupt revenue and logistics supporting Moscow’s military campaign.

The simultaneous strikes highlight the risk of an escalation cycle precisely as U.S. intermediaries attempt to restore diplomatic contact. Ukraine’s warning of retaliation for the SBU attack could produce another round of long-range operations, while continued Russian attacks on Kyiv could make it politically and militarily difficult for Ukrainian officials to maintain any unilateral restraint.

Previous U.S.-backed efforts have struggled to bridge the fundamental disputes separating Russia and Ukraine. Moscow has insisted that any lasting settlement address territorial control and what it describes as the underlying causes of the conflict. Kyiv has demanded an end to Russian aggression, credible security arrangements and terms that preserve Ukrainian sovereignty. Neither side has publicly indicated that those fundamental positions have been resolved.

The immediate significance of the Witkoff-Kushner mission may therefore lie in determining whether the parties can agree to narrower steps rather than a comprehensive settlement. Temporary limits on airstrikes, protections for diplomatic travel or other confidence-building measures could provide evidence of whether more substantive negotiations are possible.

Friday’s strike in central Kyiv puts that proposition under pressure before the U.S. representatives have completed their meetings. For Washington, the coming discussions will test whether renewed engagement can create even a short period of military restraint. For Ukraine and Russia, the decisions made around the envoys’ visits could signal whether the latest diplomatic opening develops into sustained negotiations or becomes another brief pause in an increasingly destructive long-range war.