US embassy in Kyiv shuts down over anticipated air attack

KYIV Ukraine

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv closed on Wednesday after receiving "specific information of a potential significant air attack," it said, as the Kremlin warned it would retaliate after the Biden administration reportedly permitted Ukraine to strike deeper within Russia.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy will be closed, and Embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place," the security alert said. "The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."

The alert was issued a day after Moscow said Ukraine had used U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems for the first time in the 1,000-day-old war.

The missiles, which targeted Russia's Bryansk region, were fired some 36 hours after U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly authorized Ukraine to use them to hit targets further in Russia.

Ukraine had for months sought to use ATACMS in the war, but the Biden administration had been reluctant to sign off due to fears of escalating the conflict.

On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin Russia approved changes to nuclear engagement rules, seemingly in response to Ukraine's use of the U.S.-supplied long-range missiles.

The Foundations of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence now permits nuclear weapons to be used if Russia is attack by a non-nuclear adversary that is backed by an ally possessing a nuclear arsenal.

That same day, Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested to reporters in Rio de Janeiro for a G20 Summit that Ukraine's use of the ATACMS implies the United States is directly involved in the conflict.

"If longer-range missiles are used from Ukraine on Russian territory, it will also mean that they are operated by American military specialists. Let's perceive this as a qualitatively new phase of the West's war against Russia," he said.

"We will react accordingly."