US shuts Kyiv embassy due to potential significant air attack, tells Americans in Ukraine to be ready to seek shelter

The United States shut its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday due to “specific information of a potential significant air attack” and told its citizens in Ukraine to be ready to swiftly seek shelter.The Italian and Greek embassies said they had also closed their doors after the unusual U.S.warning, while the French embassy remained open but urged its citizens to be cautious.On Tuesday, Ukraine used U.S.

ATACMS missiles to attack an arms depot inside Russia, making use of newly granted permission from the outgoing administration of U.S.President Joe Biden on the 1,000th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Russia has been signaling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place,” the U.S.

Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement on the embassy’s website.“The U.S.Embassy recommends U.S.

citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.”The Kremlin said it had no comment.Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview published on Wednesday that Moscow would retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range Ukrainian missile strikes against Russian territory.Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Wednesday that a Russian military command post had been “successfully struck” in the town of Gubkin in Russia’s Belgorod region, around 105 miles from the border with Ukraine.The Ukrainian statement raised the possibility of a second ATACMS strike, but did not specify who carried out the attack, when it took place or the type of weapon used.

Ukraine has also used drones for deep strikes against targets in Russia.The war is at a volatile juncture, with a fifth of Ukrainian territ...