US says its embassy in Kyiv remains open
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The US has denied there are any changes to its operations, following Russian threats to escalate attacks on Ukraine and telling foreigners to leave.
- The US Embassy in Kyiv denies reports of operational changes, asserting it remains open despite Russian warnings.
- EU foreign policy chief and a Ukrainian adviser claimed American diplomats had left Kyiv during a recent Russian strike.
- The US Embassy reiterated its unchanged operations, declining comment on specific claims, prioritising American safety.
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KYIV - The US Embassy in Kyiv remains open, it said on May 28, denying reports about changes to its operations following warnings from Russia that diplomats and foreigners should leave the Ukrainian capital before it escalated attacks.
Some Ukrainian media on May 28 cited remarks by European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that the US embassy had left the capital.
Ms Kallas told reporters on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Cyprus that all the foreign embassies in Kyiv had shrugged off the threat of attacks by Moscow, except one.
“What we heard from Ukraine yesterday was that all the embassies stayed except one,” Ms Kallas said on May 28. “All the Europeans stayed. America left.”
Several EU states summoned their Russian ambassadors after Moscow issued its warning to foreigners to leave on May 25.
In a post on X, the US embassy in Kyiv said there had been no changes to its operations.
“The US Embassy is open. There are no changes to our operations and reports otherwise are false,” it said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s communications adviser, Mr Dmytro Lytvyn, told reporters that Ukraine had heard that some American diplomats had left Kyiv at the time of the latest massive Russian strike on May 24.
He added that Ukraine was grateful to all the embassies that work in Kyiv and support Ukraine.
A representative of the US embassy in Kyiv declined to comment on Mr Lytvyn’s remarks.
The acting US ambassador to Kyiv, Ms Julie Davis, was in Lviv for an event at the weekend, according to the embassy’s social media post.
“The State Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans and regularly reviews the security posture of Embassy Kyiv,” the embassy said in its post on X. REUTERS
