The Russian Foreign Minister informed the US that Russia has a plan to attack Ukraine, urging the US to evacuate its diplomatic personnel and citizens from Kyiv

The Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov called the US Secretary of State Rubio, suggesting that the US should evacuate its diplomats and citizens from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as Russia plans to continue launching large-scale attacks on the city.

Bloomberg reported that on Monday (May 25), the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Lavrov, acting on the instructions of President Putin, informed the US side that Russia was conducting systematic and continuous strikes against military facilities in Kyiv and the related "decision-making centers".

Lavrov said that this was in response to the continuous attacks by the Ukrainian side on Russian civilians and civilian facilities. He reminded the US side to pay attention to the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on that day and suggested that US diplomatic personnel and citizens evacuate from Kyiv.

The notice also stated that Lavrov and Rubio exchanged views on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and Cuba. Moreover, both sides expressed their determination to intensify efforts to normalize the work of their respective diplomatic missions.

The Kremlin issued a statement earlier in the day, urging all foreign citizens, including diplomatic staff and representatives of international organizations, to leave Kyiv as soon as possible, and suggesting that residents of the Ukrainian capital stay away from military and administrative facilities.

Since February 2022, Russia has been regularly bombing Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. However, on May 24th, Ukraine was hit by a large-scale attack from Russian drones and missiles. The Russian army also launched a "Hazelnut" medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile (Oreshnik). Moscow characterized this attack as retaliation, aiming to respond to the recent drone attack by Ukraine on a university in the occupied Luhansk region by Russia, which resulted in the deaths of 21 students.

The Ukrainian General Staff said that Ukrainian forces had attacked the headquarters of the Russian drone unit operating in Starobielsk, refuting the Russian claim that civilian facilities had been targeted.