“The EU is not going anywhere,” said Katarína Mathernová, the EU ambassador to Ukraine. “We are staying in Kyiv.”
Mathernová added that “threats against diplomats” were a “sign of desperation” from Russia.
A spokesperson for France’s Foreign Ministry similarly told France Info that it would be “out of the question to evacuate” its staff from Kyiv. In a statement, Poland’s Foreign Ministry condemned Russia’s warning, saying that any attacks on its embassy would be “treated as hostile acts.”
A German Foreign Office official told POLITICO on Tuesday that Russia’s threat to foreign nationals “shows that Russia remains committed to escalation.” The official added that the country is “continually assessing the security situation” in Kyiv.
The latest spate of Russian strikes on Kyiv comes in response to a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-occupied town of Starobilsk, where Kremlin officials said a student dormitory had been struck, killing 21 people aged 18 to 21. Ukraine’s military denied responsibility, saying it had hit a Russian military target.
This is not the first time Russia has urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. Earlier in May, the country’s foreign ministry called for the evacuation of diplomatic staff, leading to rebukes from European officials. At the time, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told Bloomberg TV that Berlin would not “be intimidated by this.”
Diplomats from more than 70 countries on Monday joined Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to visit the site of this weekend’s strikes. A number of representatives from EU countries took part in the tour, among them officials from Sweden, Austria, Ireland, and Lithuania.