Zelensky Approves Response Plans After Russian Strikes: ‘We Will Choose the Right Time’

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he had approved proposals from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and Armed Forces for responses to Russia’s continuing strikes on Ukrainian cities, warning that Kyiv would choose its own time to retaliate. “I approved the proposals from the Security Service of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for responses to the strikes the Russians are carrying out against our cities,” Zelensky said in his evening address on Sept. 4.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Our warriors will find a way to respond to Russia for all of this, and we will choose the right time to respond,” he added. Zelensky cited Russian strikes throughout the day on Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Odesa and cities in the Dnipro and Donetsk regions. He said 12 people had been injured in Kyiv at the time the address was recorded. The toll later rose to 15, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. One of Friday’s most significant attacks targeted the headquarters of the SBU in central Kyiv. A Russian drone struck the office of Oleksandr Poklad, the acting head of the SBU, in a building on Volodymyrska Street opposite St. Sophia Cathedral. Poklad was not in the office at the time. Zelensky earlier said the drone had been aimed directly at Poklad’s office and instructed the security chief to prepare an “appropriate, tangible response” to the attack, adding that Ukraine’s military would support it. Other Topics of Interest Rescuers Help Kharkiv Families Flee Frontline Danger Evacuees receive both physical and emotional support as Russian strikes push Kharkiv’s residents to leave their homes. Russia launched a Kh-31P missile and 121 drones against Ukraine from the evening of Sept. 3 into Sept. 4. Ukraine’s Air Force said 103 drones were shot down or suppressed, while strikes were recorded at 15 locations. The promise of retaliation came as Kyiv prepares for another round of US-led diplomacy aimed at ending Russia’s war. Zelensky said US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Moscow before visiting Kyiv on Sunday. Ukraine will refrain from air strikes affecting Russian airspace while the US negotiators are in Russia to ensure their safe arrival, Zelensky said, while demanding Moscow reciprocate during the diplomatic mission. “There will be no air strikes from our side, and Russia must do the same,” Zelensky said. He said Kyiv wants the talks with the US delegation to be “as constructive and substantive as possible” and would assess both the proposals brought by Witkoff and Kushner and Moscow’s response to them. “We need to look for real options for how to move this war toward an end,” Zelensky said. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.