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The US and several other European embassies in Kyiv have briefly closed their doorways after Washington acquired intelligence that Russia is planning a large-scale assault on the Ukrainian capital.
In a uncommon warning, the US embassy stated it “acquired particular info of a possible vital air assault on November 20”, prompting it to close on Wednesday and advising its employees to “shelter in place”. The embassies of Italy and Greece adopted go well with and likewise closed for the day. The Spanish embassy advised all its employees to do business from home on Wednesday.
A US embassy official advised the Monetary Occasions the intelligence was about “a mixed missile and drone assault”, including that the assault was unrelated to Russia reducing the brink for its use of nuclear weapons.
“This can be a short-term change in posture and we anticipate a fast return to common operations,” they stated.
France and the UK stated they determined to not shut their embassies on Wednesday however suggested residents to take further precautions.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday for nuclear weapons use to incorporate assaults by superior western weapons programs. Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine launched its first strike on Russian soil using US Atacms missiles, concentrating on a Russian army arsenal in Bryansk area.
The US embassy has issued these sorts of statements solely a handful of occasions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It instructed employees to shelter in place and urged US residents in Ukraine to hunt shelter, monitor native media and comply with the steerage of Ukrainian authorities. It warned US residents to arrange for doable short-term lack of electrical energy by having reserves of water, meals and drugs.
The heightened safety measure got here three days after Joe Biden’s administration lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-supplied Atacms inside Russia, marking an enormous coverage shift earlier than Donald Trump takes workplace in January.
The alert mirrored rising issues over Russia’s newest escalating wave of lethal drone and missile strikes which have destroyed or broken residential buildings and significant infrastructure.
Ukraine’s authorities depend on their Nato companions for intelligence regarding potential strikes and such a press release by the embassy meant there was “a particular danger”, stated Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air defence forces.
Ignat stated there was nothing that Ukraine may add to bolster its air defences in gentle of the heightened risk, as every part the nation had was already in use and overstretched. “We simply must shoot down as a lot as doable.”
Russia has intensified its assaults in latest months, with the variety of drones deployed on a month-to-month foundation greater than quadrupling in October in contrast with August.
Ukraine’s air defence forces stated they had been in a position to down solely 56 out of 122 Russian drones launched early on Wednesday.
Andriy Kovalenko of the Middle for Countering Disinformation, a Ukrainian authorities communications platform, stated on Wednesday that Russia had collected vital stockpiles of missiles “for potential large-scale strikes on Ukraine”.
He additional warned folks “to stay vigilant” and reply to the air raid alerts.
Further reporting by Eleni Varvitsioti in Athens and Barney Jopson in Madrid
