The Straits Times World News
· collected 2026-09-04 · by The Straits Times
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is a powerful domestic security agency that emerged from the Soviet-era KGB after Ukraine gained independence in 1991. The SBU has a broad purview and has played a significant role in the ongoing war with Russia, conducting operations such as investigating war crimes, countering cyberattacks, and carrying out drone attacks on Russian military targets. According to Ukrainian authorities, the agency was targeted by a Russian drone that hit its headquarters in Kyiv on Friday. The SBU is led by acting head Oleksandr Poklad, who was not injured when his office was targeted.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-04,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A Russian drone attacked the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) in Kyiv, wounding at least 12 people, according to the city's mayor. The attack marks a significant escalation in Russia's campaign of air strikes against Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate. The SBU is a powerful organization responsible for domestic security and related matters, including investigating war crimes and conducting counterintelligence operations. This is the first time a Russian drone has targeted a high-profile government building in Kyiv during the war, which began over four years ago.
Written for “Russian Attack on Ukrainian Security …” on 2026-09-05,
grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 3667 · logged 2026-09-04
LONDON, Sept 4 - Russia fired a drone into the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in central Kyiv on Friday, in what Ukrainian authorities condemned as the latest in a string of escalations in the war.
Here are some key facts about the organisation.
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facts → fire → organisation
The SBU is a powerful and shadowy organisation that emerged out of the Ukrainian branch of the Soviet-era KGB when Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
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Ukraine → emerge → 1991
It has a sprawling purview over domestic security and related matters.
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It → have → security
Since Russia's 2022 invasion, it has played an expansive role in the fighting, investigating war crimes, countering cyberattacks, conducting counterintelligence and catching Russian agents.
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it → play → agents
It also has thousands of Alpha special forces which have conducted drone attacks on Russian military hardware on the battlefield as well as oil refineries and military facilities deep inside Russia.
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which → have → Russia
They have also used sea drones to attack tankers that transport Russian oil.
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that → use → oil
The organisation has said it carried out some of the war's most spectacular operations against Russia, such as using a truck bomb to strike Russia's bridge to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in October 2022.
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it → say → October
Last year, it masterminded an elaborate 2025 drone attack, codenamed Spiderweb, that struck a slew of Russian strategic bombers at airbases deep inside Russia.
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that → mastermind → Russia
It is also widely seen as a major player in a campaign of covert assassinations of senior Russian military and other figures blamed by Ukraine for carrying out war crimes.
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It → see → crimes
Russia has denounced those killings as terrorist attacks.
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Russia → denounce → attacks
The agency is run by acting head Oleksandr Poklad, whose office was directly targeted by the drone that hit the SBU's headquarters in Kyiv on Friday, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
uncertain
that → run → Zelenskiy
Poklad, who was appointed in July, was not injured, the agency said.
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agency → appoint → July
The SBU has expanded in size during the war.
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SBU → expand → war
The number of people working in the SBU is classified, but legislation caps the maximum number of personnel it is permitted to have during wartime at 41,000.
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it → work → 41,000
The legislative cap was increased last year from the previous wartime threshold of 31,000 personnel.
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cap → increase → personnel
BITTER RIVALRY WITH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
The SBU has a long-running rivalry with the Main Intelligence Directorate, Ukraine's military intelligence agency.
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SBU → have → Directorate
A dispute this week between members of the organisations spiralled into a shootout in which several military intelligence officers were injured in Kyiv.
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officers → spiral → Kyiv
Zelenskiy has ordered an investigation into what happened.
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what → order → investigation
