May 28 - The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has publicly confirmed it is continuing operations in the Ukrainian capital, rejecting reports that suggested a change in its status following a Russian advisory urging diplomats and foreign nationals to depart.
In a message posted on X, the embassy said: "The U.S. Embassy is open. There are no changes to our operations and reports otherwise are false." The statement directly addressed coverage in some outlets that implied U.S. diplomatic presence in Kyiv had been scaled back.
The clarification comes after a series of exchanges that created uncertainty. Several European Union states summoned their Russian ambassadors after Moscow issued a warning on Monday asking foreigners to leave Kyiv. The advisory was followed by heightened concern about potential escalations.
Some Ukrainian media cited remarks by European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who, speaking at an EU meeting in Cyprus, said that all foreign embassies in Kyiv had disregarded the threat of attacks by Moscow except for one. Kallas was quoted saying: "What we heard from Ukraine yesterday was that all the embassies stayed except one. All the Europeans stayed. America left." Those comments were picked up by outlets and contributed to reports that the U.S. mission had departed the capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiys communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, told reporters that Kyiv had been informed some American diplomats had left the city around the time of the latest large Russian strike on Sunday. Lytvyn also said Ukraine appreciated the embassies that continue to operate in Kyiv and support the country. A representative of the U.S. embassy declined to comment on Lytvyns remarks when approached for clarification.
The embassys social media activity also noted the presence of the acting U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, Julie Davis, who attended an event in Lviv over the weekend, according to the post. Separately, the embassy reiterated a broader safety message from the State Department, saying: "The State Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans and regularly reviews the security posture of Embassy Kyiv."
The sequence of statements underlines the differing accounts that can emerge in the wake of security advisories and public comments by officials. The U.S. embassy's unequivocal declaration that it remains open sought to resolve those discrepancies, while Ukrainian and EU remarks indicated that perceptions of diplomatic presence varied in the immediate aftermath of Russia's warning.