Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told diplomatic missions in Kyiv to evacuate their staff, warning that a mass Russian military strike on the Ukrainian capital is inevitable if Ukraine moves to disrupt Moscow's May 9 Victory Day commemorations, Al Jazeera reported Wednesday.
The warning was delivered by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a video posted to Telegram, citing an earlier Defence Ministry alert issued Monday. The standoff is tied to the Soviet-era Victory Day holiday, marked annually with a military parade in Red Square commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II — an event of towering symbolic importance to the Kremlin.
Zakharova accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of making 'aggressive and threatening statements' about disrupting the commemorations during a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia on Monday, and chastised EU member states present for failing to rebuke him. For his part, Zelenskyy noted that Russia had scaled down this year's parade, forgoing military hardware over security concerns. 'It will be the first time in many, many years they cannot afford military equipment, and they fear drones may buzz over Red Square. This is telling,' he said. Zelenskyy also wrote on X that Russia was redeploying air defenses from its regions to the Moscow perimeter ahead of the parade — a move he argued signals the Russian leadership 'is not preparing for the ceasefire that has been the subject of so many statements.'
The evacuation warning is among the more explicit public threats Russia has directed at Kyiv in connection with the current conflict. Whether it constitutes genuine operational signaling or calculated psychological pressure ahead of a symbolically charged date remains unconfirmed. What is clear from both sides' public statements is that military and rhetorical maneuvering around May 9 is intensifying.
The situation remains fluid. No strikes on Kyiv had been confirmed at the time of reporting, and no diplomatic missions had publicly announced evacuations.