Russia urges foreign citizens, diplomats to leave ahead of attacks on military facilities in Kiev

Russia has urged foreign citizens and diplomats to leave Kiev, saying it has planned to launch more strikes against military facilities across the Ukrainian capital.

In a statement released on Monday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that the strikes were in response to a Ukrainian drone attack last week that struck a student dorm in Starobilsk in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, killing at least 18 people.

Launched overnight on Thursday into Friday, the drone salvo that hit Starobilsk also wounded 42 people.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also, in a separate statement, said that the strike on Starobilsk signalled “the last straw” and that Russia will launch a systematic series of strikes in response, which will target “specific sites where UAVs are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for use.”

Noting that such facilities “are scattered throughout Kiev,” the statement said it was requesting “foreign citizens, including personnel of diplomatic missions and international organisations, to leave the city as soon as possible.”

It also urged Kiev residents to avoid approaching military and administrative infrastructure facilities,” the statement read.

The Foreign Ministry statement labelled the strike on students in Starobilsk a “flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law,” and “yet another blatant demonstration of the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime, which deliberately attacks civilians and does not hesitate to murder children in cold blood.”

Ukraine, backed by the US and Western countries, in recent months has struck Russian energy targets and civilian infrastructure in Moscow and elsewhere across the country.

The Ukraine war has dominated news headlines for four years now.

Ukraine now continues to suffer heavy losses by Russian forces on the battlefield.

Ukraine has complained about its Western allies' late delivery of weapons and munitions to the Kiev forces, blaming the West's delays for its latest defeats.

The United States has proposed a peace deal to Ukraine that acknowledges Russia's control of Crimea and de facto control of four eastern Ukrainian territories.

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