Smoke rises following overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv on Sunday amid the Russian invasion. More than 600 drones and 90 missiles struck several sites across Kyiv overnight on Sunday, resulting in multiple fatalities and more than 80 injuries, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
May 25 (UPI) — Russia on Monday warned the United States it will continue targeting “decision-making centers” in Kyiv and advised Washington to evacuate its personnel from Ukrainian capital as it ratcheted up pressure in the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone conversation the Russian Armed Forces are now launching “systematic and consistent strikes against facilities in Kyiv used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and against the relevant decision-making centers,” according to a readout supplied by the Kremlin.
The Russian assault is in response to “the Kyiv regime’s ongoing terrorist attacks against civilians and civilian objects on Russian territory,” the statement said.
Lavrov also warned Rubio that the United States, “along with other states with missions in Kyiv, ensure the evacuation of their diplomatic personnel and other citizens from the Ukrainian capital.”
Earlier Monday, Moscow decried what it called “a bloody drone attack” on a college dormitory on Friday in Luhansk, a part of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces and claimed as a “people’s republic.”
Twenty-one people, including children, were killed and 42 others injured in strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed while calling it a deliberate “terrorist strike.”
Ukraine, however, described it as an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Rubicon drone military unit in Starobilsk, Luhansk.
That incident was followed by Russia’s largest-ever drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight from Saturday into Sunday, in which two were killed more than 80 injured.
Strikes were recorded in almost every district of the city, hitting cultural targets such as The National Art Museum, the Chornobyl Museum, the National Philharmonic, the Ukrainian National Academy of Music and the Kyiv Opera Theater, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Julie Davis, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, condemned the overnight strikes on Monday, calling them “deliberate strikes on civilian populations and civilian infrastructure” which she deemed “unacceptable.
“As President Trump has stated before, this war must end. We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
Such strikes in the capital are set to continue, Russia warned Monday, although insisting they are aimed at military rather than civilian targets.
“All this has exhausted our patience In this situation,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are beginning to launch consistent and systemic strikes at enterprises of the Ukrainian defense industry in Kiev, including specific facilities for designing, manufacturing and programming drones and preparing them for operation.”
The strikes “will target decision-making centers and command posts,” Moscow claimed.
