UK to reopen Kyiv embassy

Boris Johnson has said that the UK will reopen its embassy in Kyiv.

The prime minister said today, as his two-day visit to India continues, that: “we [the UK] will very shortly next week reopen our embassy in Ukraine’s capital city,” he said on a two-day visit to India.

The UK government said days before Russia’s 28 February invasion that the Kyiv embassy would temporarily relocate to an office in Lviv, close to Ukraine’s border with Poland.

The British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, is scheduled to return to the country’s capital and a consular presence is set to be reestablished there.
Italy, Spain and Romania also announced similar moves as Russian troops have appeared to retreat from the region.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv.

“I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period”.