The US embassy in Kyiv has closed due to an airstrike that was expected by Reuters
(Reuters) – The U.S. embassy in Kyiv received information about a possible heavy-handed airstrike on Wednesday and will be closed, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and staff at the embassy will be ordered to shelter in place,” the department said in a statement published on the website of the US embassy in Kyiv.
“The U.S. Embassy recommends that U.S. citizens be prepared to take shelter immediately if a wind alert is issued.”
The warning comes a day after Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to attack Russian territory, taking advantage of an authorization recently granted to the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden on the 1000th anniversary of the war.
Russia has been warning the West for months that if Washington allows Ukraine to fire US, British and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow will look to those NATO members to get directly involved in the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October that Moscow would respond to Ukrainian strikes with US-made weapons deep inside Russia.
On Tuesday, Putin lowered the nuclear strike threshold in response to a wide range of conventional attacks, with nuclear risks rising amid the biggest standoff between Russia and the West in more than half a century.
