The United States closed its embassy in Kiev due to what it called the threat of a significant airstrike, a day after Ukraine used U.S. missiles to hit a target inside Russia in what the Kremlin he described as an escalation of the war.
Later, after an early afternoon air raid siren rattled nerves in the capital, Ukraine’s military spy agency said Russia was trying to sow panic by circulating false messages online about a massive missile attack and of drones imminent.
“The enemy, unable to subjugate Ukrainians by force, resorts to measures of intimidation and psychological pressure on society. We ask you to be vigilant and resolute,” it read.
A US government source said the embassy closure was “linked to ongoing threats of airstrikes”.
The Italian and Greek embassies also said they had closed their doors while the French embassy remained open, but urged citizens to be cautious.
Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to attack a weapons depot inside Russia on Tuesday on the thousandth day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
For weeks, Russia has been signaling to the United States and its allies that if they give Ukraine permission to strike deep into Russian territory with foreign missiles, then .
“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed and embassy employees will be asked to shelter in place,” the U.S. Department of State for Consular Affairs said in a statement on the embassy website.
“The U.S. Embassy recommends that U.S. citizens prepare to take shelter immediately in the event an air raid warning is announced.”
The United States expects its embassy in Kiev to return to normal operations on Thursday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Wednesday.
Russia warns of retaliation against Western nations
Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview that his country will retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian territory.
In the early afternoon the Ukrainian Air Force ordered the population to seek refuge due to the missile threat.
Senior officials told people not to ignore the alert.
This came shortly before Ukraine’s main military spy agency, GUR, released a statement warning of a Russian psychological operation that it said involved fake messages claiming to have been sent by the agency.
“A message is spreading via messengers and social networks… about the threat of a ‘particularly massive’ missile and bomb attack on Ukrainian cities today.”