Russia Warns Foreigners To Leave Kyiv As It Threatens Systematic Strikes

Russia warned it plans to launch a “series of systematic strikes” on defence industrial facilities in Kyiv and urged foreign citizens to leave the Ukrainian capital as it framed the move as retaliation for a Ukrainian drone attack last week that struck a student dorm in Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk region, killing at least 18 people.

In the same statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the strike on Starobilsk signalled “the last straw” and that Russia will target “specific sites where UAVs are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for use”.

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The warning came as Russia confirmed it had used an Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile, described as the third time the nuclear-capable weapon has been used in Moscow’s four-year war.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged allies not to give in to “Russian blackmail,” while the Al Jazeera report said Ukraine’s military has denied responsibility for the Starobilsk dorm strike, saying it had struck an elite drone command unit.

Ukrainian authorities also reported that overnight strikes on the capital and surrounding region killed at least four people and injured more than 60 people, according to the same Al Jazeera account.

Euronews reported that Moscow told foreign citizens and diplomats living in Kyiv to leave the city, warning it plans to launch more strikes on the Ukrainian capital and its “decision-making centres”.

Euronews also said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the United States to evacuate diplomats from its embassy in Kyiv during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, relaying a Russian Foreign Ministry statement from May 25.

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France 24 reported that Western diplomatic missions in the city rebuffed both warnings, quoting a French foreign ministry spokesperson saying, “We're used to Putin's threats. It is out of the question to evacuate”.

France 24 added that the European Union’s ambassador in Kyiv wrote on Facebook, “We are not going anywhere.”

The Hill reported that Russia’s Foreign Ministry urged foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, saying the strikes would target “decision-making centres and command posts” and that the facilities are “scattered across [Kyiv]”.

After the weekend barrage, Euronews said residents and authorities were cleaning up rubble on Monday left by Russia’s Sunday attack, which it said killed at least two people and wounded 91, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration.

Euronews described more than 70 ambassadors led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visiting Russian strike sites, including homes, residential buildings, and a market, where vendor Zhana Kuzmak said, “I am 45 years old. Twenty years of my life and work I have spent here.”

In the same account, Oleksii Kauleb, Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, said that in the past 24 hours they had received 986 applicants for compensation for destroyed housing through the Diia state-run app.

Al Jazeera reported that more than 70 foreign diplomats on Monday paid their respects to the victims of the strikes in Kyiv, visiting a heavily damaged neighbourhood, and it quoted French Ambassador Gael Veyssiere saying, “It’s a way to demonstrate resilience and I think it’s extremely important that we, around the world, we would support that,”

With Russia warning of further “systematic strikes” and targeting facilities it says are involved in drone design and preparation, the sources also show Ukraine’s immediate exposure to continued attacks, including reports that strikes killed several people in the eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.