Russia Urges Foreign Diplomats to Leave Kyiv Amid Massive Strikes

Russia has issued a warning for foreign diplomats and citizens to leave Kyiv while pledging to continue massive strikes on the city, RTE, WION, and Investing.com reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued the call as Moscow stepped up drone and missile attacks against key infrastructure, according to RTE and Kyiv Post. [1][2][3][8]

Despite the warnings from Moscow, foreign embassies in Kyiv are not planning to evacuate the capital, according to report citations in Kyiv Post. Meanwhile, Russian attacks have hit multiple civilian sites. Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that residents can no longer pretend it is peacetime following strikes on a school, a hospital, and key bridges, according to The Guardian. [1][4]

Russian forces also struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge across the Dnipro River, which is the second major bridge in Kyiv targeted within two days, according to the BBC, France 24, and Al Jazeera. France 24 reported that the strike followed attacks on the Southern Bridge a day earlier. As FTMQ News reported earlier, the attack on the Pivnichnyi Bridge injured two people and damaged the road surface. [5][6][7][14]

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian war that originally began in February 2014. The conflict is the largest in Europe since World War II. [11]