Belgium and France have summoned Russia’s ambassadors to express anger after Moscow urged foreigners to leave Kyiv in advance of planned “systematic strikes”.
Brussels and Paris said on Wednesday that Russia’s announcement earlier in the week was “unacceptable” and a violation of international law.
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The pair are the latest of several European Union capitals to demand an explanation. The spat is unlikely to help smooth the way for the EU to mediate talks to bring the conflict to an end, an arrangement that Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he is ready to accept.
Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the European Union summoned Russian envoys on Tuesday following Moscow’s warning that foreigners and diplomats should leave the Ukrainian capital before the onset of renewed air strikes.
“Threatening embassies is not diplomacy, it is intimidation. And it is a flagrant violation of international law and the Vienna Convention,” Belgium Foreign Minister Maxim Prevot said on Wednesday.
“Belgium is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are standing with Ukraine. And we will not be intimidated,” he said, adding that Russia is the sole aggressor in the Ukraine conflict, and urging Moscow to engage in “genuine” peace talks.
France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, said in a statement that Russia’s actions demonstrate its cynicism and contempt for international law.
“Following last weekend’s massive airstrikes and in light of the unacceptable threats against Ukrainian civilians and foreign diplomats, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian Federation’s Ambassador to France, at the Minister’s request,” read the statement.
Kyiv asks US for help on air defence
Russia’s Ministry of Defence issued a statement on Monday that warned it plans to launch a “series of systematic strikes” on defence industrial facilities in Kyiv, insisting that the planned strikes would be launched in response to a Ukrainian drone attack last week that struck a student dorm in Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk region.
Noting that such facilities “are scattered throughout Kyiv,” the statement said it was warning “foreign citizens, including personnel of diplomatic missions and international organisations, to leave the city as soon as possible”.
Moscow has, meanwhile, increased its attacks on Ukraine since the Luhansk attack. Ukraine’s military has denied responsibility for the strike on the student dorm, saying it had struck an elite drone command unit.
Russia used 30 ballistic missiles against Ukraine in a massive strike on Sunday, and only 11 of them were shot down, according to Ukraine’s air force.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday urged United States President Donald Trump to help Ukraine with air defence systems and interceptors, saying that ballistic missiles remain Moscow’s “last major advantage on the battlefield”.
In a letter to Trump and the US Congress, seen by the Reuters news agency, Zelenskyy said, “I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine’s skies from Russian missiles. We have already proposed that Ukraine is ready to purchase the number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles we need.”
Putin ready for talks with Europe
Washington was previously trying to mediate ceasefire talks between Moscow and Kyiv, although it has pulled back from its efforts – which had largely appeared to support the Russian narrative – amid the US war on Iran.
That has seen discussion rise over the potential for the EU to take up the baton.
However, the idea remains contentious, with many EU officials and member states wary of engaging with Moscow, which they consider to be insincere regarding negotiations.
The EU has pursued a policy of isolating Russia since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It has imposed sanctions and had few high-level political and diplomatic contacts with Russia.
But with US-led talks to end the conflict making little progress and the war now in its fifth year, some European officials have said the EU should be ready for when the time comes to hold talks with Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed his way into the disagreement on Wednesday as he announced that he is open to negotiations with Europe, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Kremlin.
EU foreign ministers are due to meet on Thursday to discuss how they might approach any possible future talks.
Moscow views the discussion in Europe regarding potential candidates for negotiators with Russia as a positive development, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
At the beginning of May, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a three-day ceasefire in the four-year conflict, for Moscow’s celebrations to mark its victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II, but fighting quickly resumed with both sides accusing the other of violating the agreement.
Casualties as fighting continues
Fighting has continued as diplomacy continues to falter.
Russian troops took control of the villages of Hraniv in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and of Vozdvyzhivka in the southeastern Zaporizhia region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported that a man was killed and a mother and her two young daughters were wounded after Russian shelling hit a playground in Kherson’s Korabelny district, according to a local official.
Elsewhere in the Kherson region, officials said a man was seriously injured in a Russian drone strike on a civilian vehicle in the Dniprovsky district, while two more civilians were wounded in a separate drone attack in Komyshany, Interfax Ukraine reported.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes on Pavlohrad damaged six homes and sparked a fire at a private residence without causing casualties, regional authorities said. Additional attacks across the Nikopol and Synelnykove districts wounded six people and damaged homes and vehicles, according to regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
Interfax Ukraine also reported that Russian shelling across 20 settlements in Ukraine’s Sumy region wounded a police officer and a 55-year-old woman, while damaging homes, businesses and vehicles, citing Ukraine’s national police.
Russian news agency Interfax, meanwhile, reported that one person was injured after a drone struck a vehicle in Russia’s Belgorod region, while two others were wounded in a missile attack on the city of Taganrog, according to local officials.
In Russia’s Krasnodar region, drone debris sparked a fire at a sea terminal in Tuapse that was quickly extinguished, while falling fragments damaged homes but caused no injuries, according to regional authorities cited by Interfax.
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