The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has closed, following “specific” information of a potential air attack.
The Embassy said that it was exercising an “abundance” of caution in its move to close on Wednesday.
The closure comes after it was announced on Sunday that President Joe Biden will authorize Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons in order to launch strikes against Russian territory.
Ukraine had been urging the U.S. to provide this authorization for months, but the White House had resisted doing so due to fears of escalation. However, following Moscow’s decision to deploy North Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian front, the administration reportedly changed their thinking.
In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine shared a message to U.S. citizens in the country on its website.
It said: “The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received specific information of a potential significant air attack on November 20. Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy will be closed, and Embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place.
“The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.”
The embassy advised that citizens monitor the local media for updates, identify shelter locations in advance of an air alert, immediately take shelter if an air alert is announced and follow the directions of Ukrainian officials and first responders in the event of an emergency.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. embassy in Ukraine via email for comment.
The message is unusual in its specificity, as Russian air attacks on Ukraine have become an almost daily occurrence since Russia launched its full-scale offensive into the country in February 2022.
Ukraine marked 1,000 days of the conflict on Tuesday and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv issued a defiant statement, where it said: “Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law.”
Russia has recently escalated its air attacks, according to the Associated Press. It has launched complex combined drone and missile barrages in order to target energy infrastructure, as temperatures start to drop.
Earlier this week, a Russian strike on the northeastern Sumy region in Ukraine killed seven people including a child. Zelensky condemned the attack and said: “Every new Russian strike only confirms Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue; he is not interested in talking about peace.”
Following the news of the U.S. approval of the long-range missiles, a revised version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which had been approved by President Vladimir Putin circulated on Tuesday.
This version outlined the conditions under which Moscow could deploy the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. It lowers the threshold for usage, and provides Putin with the ability to respond to a conventional strike backed by nuclear weapons. This may include Ukraine’s recent U.S.-supplied ATACMS missile strike into Russian territory, which Moscow claims happened on Tuesday, when missiles struck the Bryansk area.
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