US embassy in Kyiv reopens after nearly three months of war

Washington stays dedicated to serving to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, the US says, as embassy workers return to the capital.

Employees of US embassy in Ukraine raise the US national flag at the US embassy, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken says 'the Stars and Stripes are flying over the embassy as soon as once more' in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo]

The US has reopened its embassy in Kyiv, the US Division of State introduced, practically three months after withdrawing American diplomats and suspending work within the Ukrainian capital prematurely of Russia’s invasion.

“The Ukrainian folks, with our safety help, have defended their homeland within the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, consequently, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the Embassy as soon as once more,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a press release on Wednesday.

With the warfare in Ukraine persevering with, Blinken stated the US was making use of “extra measures to extend the protection of our colleagues who're returning to Kyiv and have enhanced our safety measures and protocols”.

US President Joe Biden has nominated Bridget Brink, a profession US overseas service officer, to be ambassador to Ukraine. Brink is aware of the area nicely, most not too long ago serving as ambassador to Slovakia.

Bridget Brink, nominated to be U.S Ambassador to Ukraine, talks before she testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.
Bridget Brink, nominated to be US ambassador to Ukraine, testified earlier than the Senate International Relations Committee on Could 10 [Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo]

Brink had served beforehand as a senior adviser and deputy assistant secretary within the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs on the US Division of State, the place she targeted on Jap Europe and the Caucasus.

She additionally served as deputy chief of mission in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Tbilisi, Georgia.

At her Senate affirmation listening to on Could 10, Brink known as the challenges dealing with Ukraine “monumental” and drew statements of help from each Democratic and Republican senators. Her affirmation is pending earlier than the Senate International Relations Committee.

The US had ordered the households of all American workers on the embassy in Kyiv to go away the nation on January 23 amid heightened concern that Russian troops, amassed on the Ukrainian borders, have been about to invade.

Russia launched its all-out invasion on February 24 and tried to take the capital, Kyiv. Days earlier, the remaining US embassy workers had been relocated to neighbouring Poland, a NATO ally.

The Russian invasion has since shifted to Ukraine’s japanese Donbas area, after its forces didn't seize Kyiv amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

On April 25,  Blinken and US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to town and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They introduced extra US navy help for Ukraine and a gradual return of American diplomats.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy poses for a picture with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before a meeting, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses for an image with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (proper) and Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier than their assembly in Kyiv on April 24 [Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters]

Senior US officers have warned that Russia is getting ready for a protracted battle, with Avril Haines, the US director of nationwide intelligence, telling lawmakers final week that the shift to the Donbas is barely non permanent.

“We assess President Putin is getting ready for a protracted battle in Ukraine throughout which he nonetheless intends to attain targets past the Donbas,” she stated.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and greater than six million folks have been compelled to flee the nation for the reason that warfare started. The United Nations has documented 7,061 civilian casualties, with 3,381 killed and three,680 injured.

“The precise figures are larger and we're working to corroborate each single incident,” Matilda Bogner, who heads a UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, instructed a information briefing in Geneva final week.

“The warfare rages on. Russia’s forces inflict dying and destruction on Ukrainian soil on daily basis,” Blinken stated in Wednesday’s assertion. “With energy of goal, we reaffirm our dedication to the folks and authorities of Ukraine, and we look ahead to finishing up our mission from the US Embassy in Kyiv.”

The US has not had a Senate-confirmed ambassador in Ukraine since 2019, when then-President Donald Trump recalled Marie Yovanovitch from Kyiv.

She later testified in Home of Representatives impeachment hearings that she had been compelled out as a part of Trump’s effort to strain Zelenskyy to dig up political grime on Biden in Ukraine.

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