Foreigners told to leave Ukraine capital as Russia threatens fresh wave of 'systematic strikes'

KYIV — Russia has warned it will launch a new wave of “systematic strikes” on defense industrial facilities in Kyiv while urging foreign nationals to leave the Ukrainian capital, days after carrying out one of its largest attacks on the city since the start of the war. In a statement, the Ministry of Defense said the strikes are in response to a Ukrainian drone attack last week that struck a student dorm in Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk region, killing at least 18 people. The new strikes will target “decision-making centers and command posts”, alongside drone manufacturing facilities in the city, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Moscow has called for foreign nationals and diplomats to leave Kyiv “as soon as possible” and warned citizens to stay away from administrative and military buildings. Later on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also urged the United States to evacuate diplomats from its embassy in Kyiv during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Sergei Lavrov drew attention to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement from May 25, which recommended that the United States, along with other states with missions in Kyiv, ensure the evacuation of their diplomatic personnel and other citizens from the Ukrainian capital,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The evacuation warning comes a day after Russia launched a massive wave of missile and drone strikes in one of it biggest attacks on Kyiv since 2022, leaving two people dead and more than 90 wounded. Ukraine said Russia’s threats were “nothing short of shameless blackmail” and urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow. With its warning to foreign nationals, Moscow is “effectively admitting that its shelling is aimed, among other things, at intimidating the foreign diplomatic corps”, the statement continued. It said Russian strikes on Kyiv “have not ceased for virtually a single week” since the start of the war, and the overall security threat posed by Moscow “remains the same as in previous years or months”. Large-scale Russian strikes on Saturday night killed four and injured about 100 people in Kyiv and other areas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Moscow said that barrage and threatened further strikes were in response to what it claims was a deliberate Ukrainian attack on a student dormitory in the town of Starobilsk on Friday, in which Russian officials said 21 people were killed. Ukraine’s military said its forces had struck an elite Russian military drone unit in the area, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, and had not targeted civilians. Russia has launched several waves of deadly missile and drone attacks on Kyiv since a brief ceasefire, that coincided with Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade, expired earlier in May. Shortly after that, Russian strikes on Kyiv killed 24 people, including three children, in a block of flats. Days later, Russian officials said three people were killed in a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region, with Zelensky saying the strikes were an “entirely justified” response to deadly Russian attacks. Kyiv then suffered one of the biggest aerial assaults of the war overnight on Saturday. Videos posted on social media showed explosions lighting up the sky throughout the night, and many Kyiv residents reported blasts rocking the city as numerous civilian targets were hit. Russia employed dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles and hundreds of drones to hit the capital, as well as firing a hypersonic, nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile on the area of Bila Tserkva, 90km south of Kyiv. Non-military targets such as the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv’s historic district and the National Art Museum of Ukraine were damaged or destroyed. A shopping centre, a market and several residential buildings in the area of Lukanivka were also destroyed. On Monday evening, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to evacuate American diplomats from Kyiv in a phone call, Russia’s foreign ministry said. After that phone call, Rubio said major strikes from either Ukraine or Russia are a “reminder of why this is a terrible war” and “it needs to come to an end.” He continued: “The US stands ready and prepared to help do whatever we can to help facilitate the end of this war and hopefully the opportunity will present itself at some point.” Many are interpreting Russia’s warning for foreign nationals to leave Kyiv as a form of psychological pressure. Russia already carries out large-scale strikes on the capital, and has done so since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But four and a half years of war have taught Ukraine to develop and ramp up a sophisticated and layered air defence system. It now intercepts a vast proportion of drones and missiles – although Russia often fires them in such great numbers they overwhelmed air defences and many do get through. Ukraine also remains heavily dependent on foreign air defence systems for missile interception. In March, Zelensky warned that his country would face a deficit of such weapons due to the US and Israel’s war with Iran.