The United States has said it believes Russia will “intensify” efforts to launch attacks against civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine in the coming days and has urged its citizens to leave the country.
The warning from the embassy in Kyiv is the first specific security alert it has issued in recent months and comes after the Ukrainian government banned celebrations in the capital to mark Wednesday’s anniversary of independence from Soviet rule for fear of an attack.
Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov said Russia had fired a rocket at the city on Tuesday morning. “Please stay at the [bomb] shelters,” Filatov wrote on his Telegram channel. “There is information that rocket fragments have fallen on private houses. More information will come later.”
Despite its proximity to the front lines and its status as a military hub, Dnipro has been hit infrequently since Russia launched its invasion in March. Wednesday also marks six months since the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that there would be a powerful response to any attack by Moscow on Ukrainian cities or towns on or around Ukraine’s independence day.
In a press conference with Andrzej Duda shortly after the Polish president’s arrival in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said he had information from Ukraine’s intelligence services and international partners that there was a bigger threat, but stressed that the threat from Russia had remained daily and constant since February 24. .
Duda, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, will meet with Zelenskiy to discuss more support for Ukraine, including military aid.
Kyiv is far from the front line and has rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukraine repelled a ground offensive to seize the capital in March. Some restaurants have closed earlier this week due to the increased perceived threat.
“The State Department has information that Russia is intensifying efforts to launch attacks against civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine in the coming days,” the US embassy said in a statement. US citizens should leave Ukraine “now” on their own if it was safe to do so, he said.
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Ukraine’s defense ministry has advised Ukrainians to be especially careful on Independence Day, citing the threat of missile attacks and “provocations” from Russia.
“Russia and the Putin regime attacked Ukrainian independence and independent Ukraine. They are really obsessed with dates and symbols, so it would be logical to be on the lookout and be ready for the independence day to be attacked,” Andriy Yusov, the head of the ministry’s intelligence directorate, told television state of Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have canceled the celebrations amid heightened security concerns. Instead of the traditional parade down Kyiv’s main street, the authorities have covered the asphalt with captured and destroyed Russian military equipment.
Ukraine is bracing for an escalation in Russian missile attacks after a car bomb killed the daughter of ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin on Saturday night.
After the attack, which Russian security services blamed on Ukraine, a number of prominent pro-Putin figures called for revenge. Ukraine denies responsibility.
The head of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said he expected Russia’s security services to carry out a series of terrorist attacks on Russian cities, causing civilian casualties in an attempt to revive domestic support for the war Danilov said he believed Dugina’s killing was the first such attack.
Ukraine’s armed forces said late on Sunday that Russia had closed airspace over the Russian border regions of Lipetsk, Voronezh and other places between August 22 and 25.
A spokesman for the UN rights office said it was concerned by Russian attempts to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in the coming days, saying the process could constitute a war crime.
“We are very concerned about the way this is being done. There are images in the media of cages being built in the Philharmonic Hall in Mariupol, really massive cages, and apparently the idea is to contain the prisoners,” Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing. This is not acceptable, this is humiliating.” Willfully depriving a prisoner of war of the right to a fair trial amounted to a war crime by Russia, he added.
Zelenskiy has said that if Russia tries the prisoners, it will eliminate the possibility of talks with Moscow. Ukrainian human rights defender Dmytro Lubinets called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene and prevent the trial.