Embassies close doors in Kyiv amid heightened security risks
The Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan embassies in Kyiv have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine "until the situation is completely stabilized." Earlier, the USA, Italy, Greece, and Spain embassies announced they would remain closed on Wednesday for security reasons.
Kazakhstani citizens were advised to exit Ukraine via Poland or Moldova, and then travel to Kazakhstan on commercial flights. The Kyrgyzstani embassy recommends its citizens leave Ukraine "until the situation is completely stabilized."
A series of embassy announcements
The Azerbaijani embassy announced it will be closed on November 21-22 due to "information about increased risk."
Earlier, the embassies of the USA, Greece, Spain, and Italy in Kyiv also announced temporary closures.
The Italian embassy announced it would be closed all day due to the risk of "intensive Russian air raids on the Ukrainian capital."
The facility explained that the United States embassy informed them about a "possible air attack and therefore decided to preemptively close it to the public." Additionally, the embassy advised Italian citizens to immediately head to the nearest shelters in case of an attack.
The Greek embassy advised its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and stay in safe places.
As reported by the EFE agency, the Spanish embassy will also remain closed on Wednesday due to "increased risk of air attacks across the entire territory of Ukraine."
The U.S. State Department informed earlier on Wednesday that the American facility in Kyiv received information about a "potentially significant air attack" expected to occur on Wednesday. "As a precaution, the embassy will be closed, and the staff was advised to take shelter," stated a message on the embassy’s website and the X service.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry responds to embassy announcements
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine responded to this information.
- The threat of shelling by the aggressor is a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1,000 days, - noted Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi on Wednesday.
- Today, the media reported that Ukraine's U.S. embassy and some other diplomatic facilities have temporarily switched to remote work. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs constantly contacts partners regarding potential security threats. We would like to remind you that the threat of shelling by the aggressor is unfortunately a daily reality for Ukrainians for over a thousand days, - noted Tykhyi, as quoted on the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He stressed that on this 1,001st day of the full-scale invasion, the threat of Russian shelling is just as significant as it was during the previous 1,000 days.
Tykhyi called on all Ukrainian citizens to remain vigilant, not ignore air raid warnings, and to take shelter in case of danger—just as everyone does each time there is a threat of a Russian missile attack,—the spokesperson added.
