Russia warns foreigners to leave Kyiv amid strikes on Ukrainian capital

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a stark warning urging foreign citizens, including diplomatic personnel, to leave Kyiv immediately as Russian forces intensify strikes on the Ukrainian Capital. The warning comes amid what Moscow describes as a “systematic series of strikes” targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial infrastructure, decision-making centres, and command posts in Kyiv.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the attacks are retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. In a statement, the ministry accused Ukrainian forces of striking the Luhansk State Pedagogical University dormitory in Starobilsk on the night of May 22. Russia claimed the attack killed 21 people, many of them young women. “The bloody attack carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the academic building and dormitory became yet another blatant demonstration of the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said.

Ukraine has denied deliberately targeting civilians. Kyiv’s military stated that its forces had instead struck what it described as an elite Russian drone command unit operating in the area.

At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council requested by Russia, Ukraine’s ambassador dismissed Moscow’s allegations of war crimes as “a pure propaganda show.”

In what Russian officials described as retaliation, Moscow launched one of the largest aerial assaults of the war against Kyiv overnight into on Sunday.

Ukrainian authorities said approximately 600 drones and 90 missiles were fired during the attack. At least four people were killed and around 100 injured. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said damage was reported in every district of the Capital. Strikes reportedly hit a water supply facility, a market, residential high-rises, schools, Ukraine’s National Art Museum, and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry building — the first time the site has sustained damage since the Second World War.

During the assault, Russia also reportedly deployed its Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile against Bila Tserkva, south of Kyiv, marking the third known wartime use of the weapon. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the barrage as a “heavy attack” and acknowledged that not all incoming ballistic missiles had been intercepted.

“They are genuinely deranged,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram following the strikes. European leaders strongly condemned the attacks. French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia’s use of the Oreshnik missile demonstrated “the dead end of Russia’s war of aggression.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the assault as a “reckless escalation.” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the strikes “abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible.”

The latest escalation highlights the growing intensity of the conflict as both sides continue to exchange long-range strikes while diplomatic efforts remain stalled.