Russia Tells Diplomats to Leave Kyiv; Rubio Keeps the Door Open While Europe Says It Is Staying

Russia’s Foreign Ministry told foreign diplomats on Saturday 3 October to leave Kyiv before more “massive” strikes. By Monday 5 October the Kremlin had said the decision was up to the embassies, Germany’s chancellor had been to Kyiv under sirens, and Marco Rubio had given the one answer that did not rule out a withdrawal.

Four European embassies replied in matching words, and the European Commission called it intimidation. Rubio replied in different ones.

Moscow gave no date and no list of embassies, only a statement about who bears responsibility. Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden said they were staying, and the EU called the warning intimidation. Rubio said Washington would decide for itself and had not changed its position “so far”.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on Saturday came hours after a drone strike on the Northern Bridge. As carried by Vanguard News, it read: “We note with concern that not everyone has heeded these warnings, and that individuals are knowingly exposing themselves to mortal danger.” It added that “responsibility for any potential negative consequences rests entirely with those who ignore this warning.” It also said Russian forces would continue “massive retaliatory strikes”.

Kyiv Post reported that the threatened targets included Dnipro river crossings, energy facilities, bridges and central administration districts, and that drones had already damaged both the South Bridge and the Northern Bridge. Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said on Friday that foreign missions had submitted “zero transfer notices or appeals”, according to the same report.

On Monday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the warning. APA reported that he said: “The decision is up to the countries that have diplomatic missions in Kyiv.” He added: “Our military continues its work.” At the same Kremlin briefing, Anadolu’s Anews service reported, he said Ukraine would “pay the price for these actions”, describing Russian strikes as retribution for Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s civilian economy.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Rubio was asked whether the United States would pull its embassy out. As rendered in Liga.net’s English edition, which translated his remarks, he said Russia had been urging diplomats to leave “for several months now” and that Washington would “decide for ourselves whether it is safe for our diplomats to be there.” He said the United States assesses every diplomatic mission daily and would change its position if a threat required it. “So far, we have not done so there,” he said, in the same translated rendering.

The US embassy itself has said it remains open, staffed and operational, according to Kyiv Post, which also noted the Level 4 travel advisory for Ukraine.

Peskov on Monday: “The decision is up to the countries that have diplomatic missions in Kyiv.” The Foreign Ministry on Saturday: responsibility “rests entirely with those who ignore this warning.” The two sentences come from the same government within two days, and the second assigns the cost of whatever follows to the embassies.

The European answers were written in the present tense and without conditions. Berlin, Rome, Madrid and Stockholm: “We are staying in Kyiv.” Merz, in the city while the Northern Bridge was hit: “we will not be intimidated.” Rubio’s was written in a different tense: “So far, we have not done so there.” His own explanation was that the United States reviews every mission daily.

That makes the American reply the only one that describes a procedure. A withdrawal, if one came, would be the result of that review and not a reversal of a pledge. Rubio also said the warnings had been repeated for months, and the Foreign Ministry’s text refers to “these warnings” as already issued.

On the ground, the strikes reported so far hit bridges. The Kyiv Post account of Moscow’s list extends to central administration districts.

The first marker is the status of the US embassy, which Rubio says is reviewed every day. The second is whether a strike lands on the central administration districts that Moscow’s statement names. The third is diplomacy: after Merz’s visit Zelensky said the United States wants trilateral talks with Russia by the end of October, France 24 reported.

If the American mission stays open and no embassy is hit, the matching European statements will have held. If either changes, they are the first thing tested.