New Delhi: After Ukraine used American ballistic missiles to target a Russian military facility on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin is expected to order his Army to retaliate in kind.
As a precautionary measure, the United States on Wednesday decided to shut its embassy in Ukrainian capital Kyiv due to “specific information of a potential significant air attack”, and told its citizens in the war-ravaged east European nation to be ready to swiftly seek shelter.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed, and embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place. The US Embassy recommends US citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced,” the US Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement on the embassy’s website.
Some European administration followed suit.
Italian, Greek and Spanish embassies also closed their doors after the unusual US warning, reported Reuters.
The French embassy remained open, but urged its citizens in Kyiv to be cautious over a “possible major airstrike.”
Russia had been signalling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
Now that Ukraine has fired ATACMS missiles at Russia, making use of newly-granted permission from the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden on the 1,000th day of Russia’s invasion of its neighbouring country, Putin is almost certain to take revenge.
