Russian Foreign Ministry Issues Fresh Warning of Retaliatory Strikes on Kyiv

May 25, 2026

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a fresh warning of imminent strikes against Kyiv as part of an ongoing retaliation campaign for a deadly Ukrainian attack against the occupied Luhansk region late last week.

Slamming what it described as the “Zelensky junta and its Western sponsors” for violating international law, the ministry said the May 22 attack on the Starobilsk Vocational School and its dormitory has pushed the war “past a breaking point.”

“Under these circumstances, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are commencing a sequence of systemic strikes against Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities in Kyiv,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Strikes will also be launched against decision-making centers and command posts.”

The ministry explicitly warned foreign nationals, including the personnel of diplomatic missions and offices of international organizations, to leave the Ukrainian capital immediately.

The warning comes after Russia launched a devastating weekend attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region using a combination of drones and missiles, including the ballistic missile Oreshnik.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault, which killed at least four people and wounded around 100 others across the country, calling the Russian strikes “deranged.”

Russia framed the heavy bombardment of Kyiv this weekend as retaliation for the Ukrainian drone attack in occupied Starobilsk, which the Kremlin says left 21 “young people” dead. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin had ordered the military to retaliate for that attack.

Ukraine denies having targeted a vocational school in Luhansk and insists it struck an elite drone command unit in the area.

At a UN Security Council emergency meeting called by Russia on Friday, Ukraine’s ambassador rejected Russia’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show.” 

Read more about: Ukraine war , Foreign Ministry , Kyiv

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