Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday that two US peace negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will visit Ukraine on Sunday after traveling to Moscow. He proposed a mutual halt to air attacks during their visit, guaranteeing the safety of Russian airspace for the envoys’ travel. The announcement came as a Russian drone strike directly hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency in Kyiv, injuring at least nine people, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
US Envoys’ Mission and Ceasefire Appeal
Zelenskyy said Kyiv would guarantee the safety of Russian airspace during the visit of Witkoff and Kushner, who are expected to travel on to Kyiv after Moscow. He called on Russia to also halt its air attacks on Ukraine during the negotiators’ visit. US President Donald Trump confirmed the mission, stating, “We have an idea for peace … I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators.” The New York Times reported that Washington has asked both sides for a ceasefire during the envoys’ visit. Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law, and Witkoff is a real estate developer.
SBU Headquarters Strike and Escalation
The SBU headquarters took a direct hit from a Russian drone on Friday, as reported by Amy Hawkins from Kyiv. Zelenskyy said he had instructed the SBU to deliver an “appropriate, tangible response” to the strike, while Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described it as a “major escalation.” Zelenskyy stated, “The drone was aimed directly at the office of the head of the security service in that building.” At least nine people were injured in the strike, according to Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
In a related development, Air Tanzania announced it was suspending flights from Dar es Salaam to Moscow from Friday, becoming the first airline to do so after Zelenskyy warned that Russian skies were unsafe due to Ukraine’s retaliatory drone attacks. The airline said on Facebook that it took the step after “a routine risk assessment of the operating environment along the route.” Vladimir Putin on Thursday falsely claimed that Ukraine was threatening to attack civilian aircraft. Moscow has protested to the UN’s aviation agency after Ukraine asked it to have member countries keep their airlines out of Russian airspace. Zelenskyy clarified, “Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation as such – not a single civilian aircraft. There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.”
Overnight Attacks and Regional Impact
A “massive” overnight Russian attack on the Odesa region killed one person and injured at least five others, including a child, according to regional head Oleh Kiper. The attacks damaged multiple residential buildings, including two multistorey blocks. Strikes elsewhere in Ukraine killed two police officers in Dnipro, officials said, while a drone attack in Kyiv wounded three people after hitting a residential building. In Russia, a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike hit the Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the nearby district of Sirius, regional officials said on Friday. The attack sparked a blaze at an oil depot, with Russian media reporting two oil depots hit—one fire in Sochi and another in Sirius.
Finnish authorities said they were investigating how a Russian-made drone ended up on the shore in the Pellinge archipelago east of Helsinki. Finland’s border guard said it appeared to be a Geoscan 701 drone, manufactured by a Russian company. “The device model in question is used by both state and civilian operators, and it is not possible at this stage to determine its intended use or identify the country or entity operating it.”
WHO Warehouse Hit and Political Reactions
A World Health Organization warehouse storing humanitarian medical supplies was struck during an air attack on the Kyiv region, continuing what the WHO said was a pattern of such attacks across Ukraine. In 2026, at least 20 attacks have affected depots storing humanitarian goods including healthcare supplies, said a WHO spokesperson in Geneva.
In France, a vice-president in the far-right party of presidential contender Marine Le Pen sparked a furore by saying France would “turn off the tap” to Ukraine if National Rally (RN) came to power. Louis Aliot claimed the RN “condemned the Russian aggression” but said the war had “weakened Europe.” Centre-right politician Edouard Philippe, a rival in the elections, retorted that “turning off the tap to Ukraine is serving Russia.” He added, “Weakening Ukraine, as Marine Le Pen wishes, is threatening the security of Europe and France. I will do everything to prevent it.” Le Pen herself said her party was pushing for a “diplomatic resolution of this abominable war.”
The head of Memorial, Russia’s Nobel peace prize-winning rights group, told AFP she fears a fresh crackdown after September’s legislative elections, with more people arrested and sent to fight in Ukraine. Elena Zhemkova vowed to keep up the fight for human rights in Russia, despite her group being declared illegal and herself forced into exile. “Unfortunately, I think that now everything is getting worse, but not so fast,” the 65-year-old said. “But after the elections, there will be a very sharp deterioration.”
