Russia threatens Kyiv with fresh wave of strikes and tells foreign visitors and diplomats to leave Ukraine’s capital ‘as soon as possible’
Russia has threatened to launch further ‘systematic attacks’ on Kiev, just days after it launched one of its biggest attacks on the Ukrainian capital since the start of the invasion.
Russia’s foreign ministry has threatened to target ‘decision-making centers and command centers’ in the city, as well as drone production facilities.
He called on foreign nationals and diplomats in Kiev to leave “as soon as possible” and warned civilians to stay away from government and military buildings.
The US was warned to withdraw its diplomats from its Kiev embassy, while Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told US secretary of state Marco Rubio of plans to attack the city.
The ministry said today: ‘Sergei Lavrov drew attention to a statement made by the Russian Foreign Ministry on 25 May, recommending that the United States, together with other states with missions in Kiev, ensure the evacuation of its diplomatic staff and other citizens from the Ukrainian capital.’
Ukraine interpreted these threats as Russian ‘rhetoric’.
The country’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said: ‘We are now telling our partners that they should not give in to all this Russian blackmail.’
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, four people were brutally killed and around 100 others were injured in Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital over the weekend.
A trade center burned down after Russia’s attack on Kiev, Ukraine, on Sunday, May 24, 2026
Smoke rises over Kiev during Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian capital on May 24, 2026
Local residents walk past a damaged shopping mall following Russian attacks in Kiev, May 25, 2026
Moscow claimed that these attacks and possible future attacks were carried out in response to Friday’s attacks on a student dormitory in the Russian-occupied city of Starobilsk, Ukraine, which it claimed was a deliberate attack.
The Kremlin claimed that 21 people died in the attack and that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his army to retaliate. But the Ukrainian military said it shot down an elite Russian drone unit in the area and did not target civilians.
Russia had called on foreign citizens and diplomats to evacuate Kiev earlier this month, threatening a mass attack on the center of Kiev if Ukraine prevented the military parade in Red Square.
A French foreign ministry spokesman said: ‘We are used to Putin’s threats. The evacuation of French diplomats is out of the question.
Russian attacks killed four people and wounded more than a dozen in eastern Ukraine today, local officials said.
Two people, aged 68 and 25, were killed and almost two dozen people were injured in the attack on the town of Dergachi in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, the region’s governor, said.
Russian forces occupied much of the Kharkiv border region when it invaded in 2022, but were pushed back months later by a Ukrainian offensive that embarrassed the Kremlin.
Two people were killed in a separate attack in Kramatorsk, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Goncharenko, said on Facebook.
Russia launched its large-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
The conflict has since escalated into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Since then, Ukraine has been trying to rally more support to push back Putin’s forces.
Ukrainian air defense fires on Russian drones over Kiev during a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, May 24, 2026
A child plays the accordion in front of a shopping mall damaged by Russian attacks in Kiev, May 25, 2026
He tries to lobby for the US to increase missile production, but to no avail.
Zelensky admitted on Monday that Ukraine had made little progress in talks with the United States about increasing missile defense production and was working with Europe to resolve the issue.
“Unfortunately, no progress has been made with America for a long time regarding the expansion of anti-ballistic missile production,” he said.
‘We are trying to accelerate this work in Europe to produce our own anti-ballistic systems in sufficient quantities on the continent.’
Zelensky said Ukraine continues to talk with the United States about how it can help Ukraine and that U.S. leadership is vital.
