Rubio: U.S. embassy in Kyiv stays open despite Russia’s call for diplomats to leave

The U.S. embassy in Kyiv remains open despite Russia’s call for foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, as The Kyiv Independent reported.

Asked by a journalist about Washington’s position following the Russian warning, Rubio said the United States has an embassy presence in Kyiv and that the decision on diplomats’ stay is taken based on the security assessment.

“We analyse the security of every diplomatic mission in the world every day, and if a threat emerges that we feel needs to be addressed with a change of posture, we will do it. So far we have not done that there,” Rubio said, according to the official transcript of the U.S. Department of State.

The U.S. Secretary of State added that Russia has been issuing these warnings for months and that “it is no surprise to anyone that Kyiv is under attack.”

On 3 October, Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on foreign diplomats and foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, promising to continue strikes on the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, for its part, confirmed that embassies do not plan an evacuation, while Poland announced on Sunday that its embassy in Kyiv remains open.

Kyiv remains a regular target of Russian drone and missile strikes, while tensions over the security of diplomatic missions have risen following Moscow’s warning.