US responds to Russia: Embassy in Kiev is open and will not remove diplomatic personnel from Ukraine

The US embassy in Kiev denied reports that it had been evacuated from the capital following Russian threats of new attacks.

The embassy statement followed comments by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who told a press conference on Thursday that all embassies had remained in Kiev, "except one."

"All the European embassies stayed, America left," Kallas said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, referring to recent Russian warnings on Monday of further attacks on Kiev and calls for foreign diplomats to leave the city.

The US embassy later issued a statement on X denying reports that it had evacuated staff.

"The US Embassy is open. There are no changes to our operations and other reports are false," the embassy said.

The embassy added that the State Department regularly reviews security conditions and reiterated guidance advising US citizens not to travel to Ukraine.

Kiev denies the allegations.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also said reports of a US evacuation were incorrect.

"The information regarding the departure of the American Embassy is not true," Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters.

Presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the comments may have referred to a temporary relocation of some US personnel ahead of a recent attack.

"Perhaps he was referring to the circumstances before the attack on Sunday evening. We heard that American diplomats temporarily left Kiev at that time," Lytvyn said.

"However, Ukraine is grateful to all embassies operating in Kiev," he added.

Russia warns of further attacks

The statements followed Russia's announcement that it would carry out "systematic attacks" against decision-making centers and defense-related facilities in Kiev.

Moscow said the strikes, in retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian attack on a dormitory in occupied Starobilsk, would target infrastructure involved in the production and use of drones; Kiev denied targeting the dormitory.

Russia also claimed it would target facilities involved in the design, production and deployment of drones allegedly used by Ukraine with "NATO assistance."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha dismissed the threats as "blackmail" and said they would not affect the work of foreign missions in Kiev.

After that, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked the US to evacuate embassy personnel during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

Moscow's warning also came after a major barrage of attacks last weekend against Kiev with 90 missiles and 600 drones.

The GeoPost