Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow tells US to evacuate diplomats from Kyiv as Putin threatens revenge strikes

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Pinned

Russia warns US embassy and foreign citizens to flee Kyiv as it prepares more strikes

Russia has issued a stark warning to foreign nationals, diplomatic missions and staff to leave Kyiv immediately as it will launch “systematic strikes”.

“Given the continued terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime against Russian civilians, @mod_russia will be targeting Ukrainian defence industry facilities in Kiev. Foreign nationals, including diplomatic missions & staff, should leave the city ASAP,” it said in a post on X.

Moscow has said it will attack targets in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military as well as decision-making centres.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, on a phone call with the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, also pressured the US to evacuate staff from its embassy.

Read moreArpan Rai26 May 2026 06:00

Putin wants new Ukraine war recruits, offers debt relief in exchange

Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree providing debt relief to new Ukraine war recruits and their families, the Kremlin said late on Monday, as Moscow seeks to boost its army.

People who signed a contract with the Russian defence ministry from 1 May and/or their spouses are free from their debts of up to 10 million roubles (£103,791) if a legal claim to collect those debts was in force before that date, the decree posted on the Kremlin's website said.

The recruits will have to join the military to fight against Ukraine in Putin's “special military operation” for at least one year, it added.

The law adds to a variety of support measures for Russian fighters in the war, from big payouts to preferable admissions for higher education, as the Kremlin seeks to boost its forces.

Putin also signed a decree indefinitely extending rental rights for state land for those fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 08:38

EU says not leaving Kyiv in response to Russia's bombing threat

The head of the EU mission in Kyiv said the 27-nation bloc was "not going anywhere” after Russia issued a warning message, asking foreigners to leave the Ukrainian capital.

Russia has threatened to launch "systematic strikes" on targets in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military as well as decision-making centres, a day after one of its heaviest bombardments of the city since the start of the war.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, on a phone call with the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, also pressured the US to evacuate staff from its embassy.

Katarina Mathernova, the head of the EU mission, said the Russian warning sought to sow panic.

"Russia wants ‌fear. Panic. Isolation of Ukraine. It will not work," she said on social media. "The EU ‌is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are staying with Ukraine,” she said.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 08:10

Lavrov tells Rubio of Russian decision to strike Kyiv sites linked to military

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has advised US secretary of state Marco Rubio of Moscow's decision to launch strikes on sites in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Moscow has warned it will launch "systematic strikes" on targets in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military as well as decision-making centres, and urged foreigners to leave, a day after one of its heaviest bombardments of the city since the start of the war.

A statement ⁠on the ministry's ​website said ⁠Lavrov told ‌Rubio by telephone that the move was initiated "in ‌response to the continuing terrorist ‌attacks by the Kyiv regime against the peaceful ⁠population and civilian sites on Russian territory”.

It said Russia's armed forces "are starting systematic strikes on facilities located in Kyiv that ‌are used for ​the needs of the ‌Armed Forces ⁠of Ukraine, as ⁠well as on centres where the ‌corresponding ​decisions are ‌being made”.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 08:08

Kyiv hosts Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya for her first 'working visit'

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Kyiv yesterday after weeks of mounting warnings from ⁠Ukrainian officials about Russian plans to draw Minsk more deeply into the war against Ukraine.

Tsikhanouskaya arrived a day after one of the war's biggest strikes on the Ukrainian capital killed four people and damaged historical sites, and amid Russian threats to launch further heavy attacks on Kyiv.

Tsikhanouskaya, an opponent of Belarus' president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, said only a democratic Belarus could become a source of stability and security in the region.

"Lukashenko's rhetoric is shifting: we are preparing for war, of course, we want peace, but we ⁠are gearing up for war. And that, of course, is very alarming for people," ​she told reporters ⁠after meeting with Ukraine's foreign minister ‌Andrii Sybiha, on what she said was her first "working visit" to Kyiv.

Asked about a phone call that French president Emmanuel Macron held on Sunday with Lukashenko, Tsikhanouskaya described it as "a warning" from Europe.

"If you take any steps to escalate the situation... there will be a response from our side," Tsikhanouskaya said, paraphrasing what she believed to be Europe's message to the veteran Belarusian leader.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 07:50

Ukraine destroys more than 80 Russian defence systems since March

Ukraine has inflicted serious damage to Russia’s air defence capabilities as it has destroyed more than 80 air defence systems since March this year, its defence ministry said in an update.

Ukrainian forces have significantly intensified their strike campaign against Russian air defence systems, it said, damaging almost twice as many Russian air defence and radar systems in April 2026 compared to October 2025.

“The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces have struck 81 Russian air defence systems since March 1, 2026, and the Ukrainian MoD noted that Ukrainian forces have struck 12 Pantsir air defense systems in occupied Crimea since the start of 2026,” the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank said.

“Ukrainian forces have been conducting a coherent campaign to suppress and destroy Russian air defences since late 2025 in order to destroy or temporarily degrade surface-based air defenses and let friendly aircraft operate safely,” it added.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 07:08

British man, 23, killed in action in Ukraine after joining specialist unit supporting army

A 23-year-old British man, Ayrton Redfearn, was killed in action in Ukraine's Donetsk region. He died on 9 May.

From Devon, Mr Redfearn had joined a specialist unit supporting the Ukrainian army in 2025, his mother, Natasha, told the BBC, adding she “lived in fear of the police coming to my door with bad news”.

“This fear became reality on the evening of 11 May, and the world of myself, and Ayrton’s 10-year-old brother, then fell apart,” she said.

Mr Redfearn was a Torquay Air Cadet as a child, joining the RAF at 17 before travelling overseas.

His mother stated: "We are trying to have just 1 per cent of the strength, bravery and courage of Ayrton, and if we can do this, it will help us to eventually come to terms with our life without him.

British man, 23, killed in Ukraine after joining specialist unit supporting army

His mother said her worst fear came true when police knocked at her doorArpan Rai26 May 2026 06:49

Russia says magnetic mines found on tanker at Ust-Luga port

Several magnetic mines had been detected on a tanker in Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, Russia's Investigative Committee said yesterday.

The committee said the mines, ⁠manufactured in a Nato country, ​were ⁠found by divers during an inspection of the hull of the tanker Arrhenius, which arrived from ⁠Belgium's port of Antwerp to load liquefied petroleum gas.

"Based on initial ⁠investigative actions, it can already be concluded that the magnetic mines could ‌not have ​been installed in Russia's territorial waters," ‌Petrenko said.

Nato has not mined any tanker, a Nato official said in an emailed statement.

Last year, Russia ordered divers to inspect ships in its ports, after suspected attacks on four oil tankers. The Suezmax tanker Koala ran aground at Ust-Luga after a blast in its engine room in February 2025.

According to LSEG ship tracking data, Arrhenius is Liberia-flagged and is managed by the Maple Mariner Holding in the UAE.

A spokesperson for Russia's Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said the vessel, which entered Ust-Luga on 20 May, was scheduled to sail to the Turkish port of Samsun. The mines were deactivated, she said.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 06:27

Six people die in a fire in Russia's Omsk region

At least six people, including four children, have died in a fire that broke out in a private house in Russia's Omsk region, local officials said.

Omsk lies in southwestern Siberia, about 2,200km (1,370 miles) ​east ‌of Moscow.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 06:19

Ukraine reburies remains of World War 2 leader who challenged Soviet rule

Ukraine reburied the repatriated remains of divisive military figure Andrii Melnyk, who worked with Nazi Germany to fight against Soviet rule, yesterday.

The ashes of the 20th-century Ukrainian military figure and his wife Sofiia Fedak-Melnyk were exhumed last week from Luxembourg and sent to Ukraine.

Their remains were reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv yesterday in a ceremony attended by president Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials.

"Today we all see that the Ukrainian idea can overcome what once seemed absolutely insurmountable," Zelensky said, speaking at the reburial ceremony.

"Now, when we are on Ukrainian soil, under our Ukrainian flag, to the sound of the Ukrainian national anthem, paying due tribute to our Ukrainian heroes, we feel in our hearts everything that Ukrainians were forced to go through, everything our people had to endure,” he said.

Arpan Rai26 May 2026 05:50NewerOlder

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