Greece followed the US on Wednesday by shutting its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine due to “specific information of a potential significant air attack,” as US intelligence warned.
Italy’s embassy in Ukraine has also announced it will be closed today as a precaution.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place,” the US Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement on the US embassy’s website.
“The US Embassy recommends US citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced.”
The embassy in Kyiv urged US citizens in Ukraine to have reserves of water, food, and other essentials such as required medications for the event of a “possible temporary loss of electricity and water,” caused by Russian strikes.
“Persistent Russian attacks targeting civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine may result in power outages, loss of heating, and disruption of municipal services,” it said.
Ukraine attacks Russia with US ATACMS missiles
The warning came a day after Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden on the war’s one thousandth day.
Ukraine is expecting a possible hit from Russia because Ukraine hit a town in the region of Bryansk about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine said it hit an ammunition warehouse and that there were secondary explosions.
Russia had been warning the West for months that if Washington allowed Ukraine to fire US, British, and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow would consider those NATO members to be directly involved in the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October that Moscow was working on different ways to respond if Washington approved Ukrainian strikes with US-made weapons deep into Russia.
On Tuesday, Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, with nuclear risks rising amid the highest tensions between Russia and West in more than half a century.
Greece on the 1,000th-day anniversary of the war
The Foreign Ministry in Athens issued a statement on Tuesday the one thousandth day anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine expressing its support for Kyiv.
“On this sad anniversary of 1000 days since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our thoughts go to the thousands of victims of the war, including members of the Greek Community.
“Greece supports Ukraine in its struggle for a just and sustainable peace that will be based on international law, the Charter and Resolutions of the United Nations and will meet the expectations of the Ukrainian people for security, national independence and prosperity, within the framework of a common European future,” the statement reads.
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