The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denied information that Western embassies were preparing to move from Kiev due to Russian attacks. The spokesman for the department, Georgy Tykhy, said that Ukraine had not received official requests or messages from foreign diplomatic missions for evacuation or relocation.
„I do not know where some foreign publications got this information from. At this point in time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received such requests or messages from foreign diplomatic missions about plans to move somewhere“, Tykhy said.His comment was given to LIGA.net and is a reaction to a publication by the British newspaper The Guardian. It claims that, amid the increasing Russian strikes, some Western embassies are developing backup plans to move to Lviv or eastern Poland.
Diplomats publicly state that they are staying
According to The Guardian, Western diplomats are publicly emphasizing their intention to stay in Kiev. The reason is that their possible withdrawal could be presented as a propaganda victory for Moscow and create the impression that Ukraine has been abandoned.
At the same time, the publication quotes unnamed senior diplomats, according to whom plans for action in the event of targeted Russian strikes against foreign diplomatic missions are being discussed unofficially. One of them states that Russia intends to “freeze Kiev“ and return it to the Stone Age.
“The situation is clearly deteriorating rapidly“, the diplomat said, quoted by The Guardian.The publication comes after a series of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kiev. The Guardian reported that offices, data centers, a school, a hospital and one of the main bridges in the capital were hit. On September 30, debris was also found on the territory of a Western embassy, without specifying which one.
The 2022 precedent
In the run-up to the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, several Western countries temporarily evacuated their embassies from Kiev. Some of the diplomatic missions were relocated to Lviv and Poland.
At the end of May 2026, after a new series of massive attacks, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued threats of new strikes and called on foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. European diplomatic missions then did not heed the call and continued their work in Kiev.
At the moment, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry states that it does not have official data on the planned relocation of Western embassies. The Guardian publication speaks of unofficial backup plans that would be activated in the event of new targeted attacks on diplomatic missions.
Sources: Ukrainska Pravda, The Guardian, LIGA.net