US shuts Kyiv embassy over ‘potential significant air attack’
The Italian and Greek embassies said they had also closed their doors after the unusual US warning, while the French embassy remained open
The United States shut its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday morning due to “specific information of a potential significant air attack” amid jitters in the capital over possible Russian retaliation a day after a big Ukrainian strike.
The Italian and Greek embassies said they had also closed their doors after the unusual US warning, while the French embassy remained open but urged its citizens to be cautious.
Air raid sirens briefly sounded in Kyiv in the afternoon, as the air force told people to seek shelter because of a missile threat. Senior officials told Ukrainians not to ignore the alert.
Russia has been signalling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place,” the US Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement on the embassy’s website.
