Russia has urged foreign nationals and diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital, warning it will launch a series of “systematic strikes” on what it described as defense and military-industrial targets in Kyiv.
In a statement on Monday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said the planned strikes are a response to a Ukrainian drone attack last week on a student dormitory in Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk region, which Russian officials said killed 21 people.
Pots, paintings, pencils, all littered among the rubble
Students lived and studied in this Starobelsk dorm
Kiev killers unashamedly claim this was an ‘elite drone command unit’https://t.co/JSlyxniwmb pic.twitter.com/HZQPy3Hm0A
— RT (@RT_com) May 23, 2026
“Under the current circumstances, the Russian Armed Forces are starting to launch systematic strikes against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities in Kyiv,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The strikes will target both decision-making centres and command posts… We are warning foreign citizens, including personnel of diplomatic missions and international organizations, to leave the city as soon as possible.”
It also urged Kyiv residents to avoid approaching “military and administrative infrastructure facilities.”
A later statement said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had informed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the planned strikes during a telephone call.
Lavrov reportedly told Rubio by telephone that the move was initiated “in response to the continuing terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime against the peaceful population and civilian sites on Russian territory.”
Ukraine said Russia’s threats were “nothing short of shameless blackmail” and urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow. It added that Russian strikes on Kyiv “have not ceased for virtually a single week” since the start of the war.
Large-scale Russian strikes on Saturday, which used drones and missiles including the Oreshnik system, killed four people and injured about 100 in Kyiv and other areas, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
