Russia to Intensify Attacks on Ukraine, Urges Foreign Nationals to Leave

Tensions escalate! The Russian government has announced plans to launch further attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, including targeting its ‘decision-making centres’. Russia has also reiterated its call for foreign nationals and diplomats to leave the city. Russia launched dozens of drones and missiles into Ukraine over the weekend, killing four people, injuring dozens and causing widespread damage across Kyiv. Among the weapons used were the Oreshnik hypersonic missiles, which travel at ten times the speed of sound and can carry nuclear warheads, according to Moscow. The attacks followed Russia’s accusation that Kyiv had struck a vocational school in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing 21 people. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military retaliation for the strike. ‘In the current situation, the Russian Armed Forces have begun systematic attacks on Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities in Kyiv,’ the Russian foreign ministry stated. ‘The strikes will target decision-making centres and command posts… We warn foreign nationals, including diplomatic personnel and international organisation staff, to leave the city immediately,’ it added. In response, the Ukrainian government dismissed Russia’s threats as ‘rhetoric’. ‘We are now telling our partners not to succumb to this Russian blackmail,’ said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. Earlier this month, Russia had already urged foreign nationals and diplomats to leave Kyiv. The warning came after Moscow threatened massive attacks on Kyiv’s heart if Ukraine interfered with a military parade on Red Square. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict has since escalated into Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.