Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.AllNewsSportCultureLifestyleRussia has issued a stark warning to foreign nationals, diplomatic missions and staff to immediately evacuate Kyiv, saying it would launch "systematic strikes" on Ukrainian defence industry facilities and decision-making centres, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pressuring US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to also evacuate staff from its embassy.The head of the EU mission in Kyiv, Katarina Mathernova, dismissed Russia's warning as an attempt to sow panic, affirming that “the EU is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are staying with Ukraine”Ukraine's Defence Ministry reported significant success in damaging Russia's air defence capabilities, having destroyed over 80 systems since March, with a notable intensification of strikes in April compared to October 2025. Ayrton Redfearn, a 23-year-old British man, was killed in action on 9 May in Ukraine's Donetsk region, having joined a specialist unit supporting the Ukrainian army in 2025. Magnetic mines, reportedly manufactured in a Nato country, were discovered and subsequently deactivated on the tanker Arrhenius in Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, with Russia's Investigative Committee saying they could not have been installed in Russian territorial waters, a claim Nato denied. In fullUkraine-Russia war latest: Moscow tells US to evacuate diplomats from Kyiv as Putin threatens revenge strikesThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Russia tells foreign nationals to flee Kyiv as it threatens ‘systematic strikes’
Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.AllNewsSportCultureLifestyleRussia has issued a stark warning to foreign nationals, diplomatic missions and staff to immediately evacuate Kyiv, saying it would launch "systematic strikes" on Ukrainian defence industry facilities and decision-making centres, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pressuring US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to also evacuate staff from its embassy.The head of the EU mission in Kyiv, Katarina Mathernova, dismissed Russia's warning as an attempt to sow panic, affirming that “the EU is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are staying with Ukraine”Ukraine's Defence Ministry reported significant success in damaging Russia's air defence capabilities, having destroyed over 80 systems since March, with a notable intensification of strikes in April compared to October 2025. Ayrton Redfearn, a 23-year-old British man, was killed in action on 9 May in Ukraine's Donetsk region, having joined a specialist unit supporting the Ukrainian army in 2025. Magnetic mines, reportedly manufactured in a Nato country, were discovered and subsequently deactivated on the tanker Arrhenius in Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, with Russia's Investigative Committee saying they could not have been installed in Russian territorial waters, a claim Nato denied. In fullUkraine-Russia war latest: Moscow tells US to evacuate diplomats from Kyiv as Putin threatens revenge strikesThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
