Canada follows in the footsteps of the United States and closes its embassy in kyiv. Earlier on Wednesday, Washington said it had received reports of threats of air attacks and warned American citizens in Ukraine to prepare to take shelter quickly.
The Canadian Embassy to Ukraine in Kyiv has temporarily suspended in-person services due to the security situation
we can read on the Canadian government website. Those requiring consular services are encouraged to contact the Emergency Watch and Response Center by email or telephone.
The American Embassy, for its part, recommended that its nationals prepare reserves of water, food and essential products.
News agencies report that warning sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital, signaling residents to go to shelters.
Fears of Russian strikes
These embassy closures come the day after the Ukrainian army used long-range American ATACMS-type missiles on Russian territory.
Russia targeted energy facilities in Ukraine with 120 missiles and 90 drones on Sunday. This caused major outages and damaged the country’s energy network.
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The American Embassy in kyiv, Ukraine
Photo : Reuters / Stringer
Persistent Russian attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine may cause power and heat outages and disrupt municipal services.
Reacting to the announcement from the American embassy, the head of the Center for Combating Disinformation of the Ukrainian Security Council Andri Kovalenko suggested that Russia was preparing to carry out new attacks.
Let me remind you that the Russians have been amassing missiles for months in preparation for a series of attacks on Ukraine. This includes Kh-101 missiles, which they continue to produce, as well as Kalibr and ballistic missiles
he indicated.
Moscow has been warning for weeks that a green light from Washington for American missile strikes on Russian territory would represent a serious escalation in the conflict and Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved a new nuclear doctrine opening the possibility for Russia to resort to the weapon atomic in the event of a massive attack by a non-nuclear-weapon State, but supported by a nuclear State.
Ukraine criticizes closures
Ukrainian diplomacy criticized the closure of several Western embassies on the grounds of a risk of massive Russian strikes, estimating that this threat was the same every day since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The threat of strikes […] has unfortunately been a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1000 days
said a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in a statement, calling on Westerners not to feed the tension
with the closure of their embassies.
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With information from Reuters and Agence France-Presse
