US closes Kiev embassy and moves staff to western Ukraine

The US State Department announced on Monday that it was relocating its limited embassy staff remaining in Ukraine from Kiev, the capital, to Lviv as fears grow of a Russian attack or invasion.

The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement early Monday afternoon. The Wall Street Journal reported separately that embassy staff were destroying computer equipment before leaving the building.

State Department officials were “temporarily relocating our Embassy operations in Ukraine from our Embassy in Kyiv to Lviv due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces,” said Mr Blinken.

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