Russia Warns Kyiv Embassies Before Moscow Parade — Putin News
Putin news: Russia told foreign embassies and international organisations in Kyiv to evacuate their staff after warning of a possible retaliatory strike on the Ukrainian capital if Ukraine disrupts Moscow’s Victory Day parade this weekend. The note urged missions to “ensure the timely evacuation of personnel from diplomatic and other missions, as well as citizens, from the city of Kyiv.”
Kyiv evacuation warning
Russia’s warning came on Wednesday and tied the threat directly to Saturday’s parade in Moscow. The note said any strike would be “including against decision-making centres,” putting diplomatic staff in Kyiv on notice as Ukraine and Russia trade threats around the anniversary.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected that posture and said Ukraine had offered a truce starting on 6 May, before, during and potentially after the anniversary if Russia halted attacks on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said Russia had ignored Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal and accused Moscow of choosing escalation instead of restraint.
Zelenskyy’s ceasefire offer
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia had committed 1,820 violations by late morning. He called Russia’s conduct “Russia’s choice is an obvious spurning of a ceasefire and of saving lives” and added, “if the one person in Moscow who cannot live without war is interested only in a parade and nothing else, that is another matter.”
His remarks place the evacuation warning against a wider pattern of attacks this week. Russian drones hit a kindergarten in Sumy on Wednesday, killing a security guard and wounding two others; no children were in the building. Separately, the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said Russian attacks on 14 regions of Ukraine since last Friday killed at least 70 civilians and wounded more than 500 people.
Parade day pressure
The Moscow parade gives the warning its timing and its edge. Russia said the threat of a retaliatory strike could extend to decision-making centres, while Ukraine’s proposal for a ceasefire from 6 May did not produce an agreement with Moscow. That leaves foreign missions in Kyiv with a practical instruction from Russia and no easing in the exchange of strikes around the holiday period.
For diplomats and international organisations in Kyiv, the immediate step is already spelled out in Russia’s note: move people out of the city. The next fixed moment in the standoff is Saturday, when Moscow’s Victory Day parade is scheduled to take place and any disruption would test whether Russia turns its warning into action.
