Rodion Miroshnik, an ambassador-at-large at Russia's Foreign Ministry, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is choosing to blame Russia for a drone strike on the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) in Kyiv rather than acknowledge possible internal conflicts within the country's security agencies.
Writing on his Telegram channel, Miroshnik said Zelensky adhered to the version that the drone flying directly into the window of the service's top official was the result of a Russian drone strike. Miroshnik said that, faced with two unwelcome explanations, Zelensky chose the one he judged less damaging to himself, describing it as picking the lesser of two evils.
What Miroshnik said
Miroshnik argued that the Ukrainian leader had two possible accounts of the strike available to him and settled on the version that pointed to Russia rather than one that might suggest tension inside Ukraine's own security structures.
Miroshnik holds the rank of ambassador-at-large within Russia's Foreign Ministry and regularly comments on developments in Ukraine through his Telegram channel. He has previously served as an envoy focused on Ukraine-related affairs for Russian officials.
The SBU drone strike
The Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported on September 4 that Russian armed forces had struck the SBU building in central Kyiv. Zelensky later said a drone belonging to the Russian army hit the office of Alexander Poklad, whom Miroshnik referred to as the service's top official.
The SBU is Ukraine's principal domestic security and counterintelligence agency, tasked with protecting the country's constitutional order, sovereignty and territorial integrity. It operates under the authority of the Ukrainian president and has played a central role in wartime security operations since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Miroshnik's comments were among the first official Russian remarks tying the drone strike to a broader dispute over how the incident should be explained.
