THE THAI embassy in Moscow issued an urgent warning to Thai citizens in Russia to avoid high-risk areas as the Russia-Ukraine war is escalating with the Russian government having told foreigners to evacuate the Ukraine capital of Kyiv, Naewna newspaper said today (May 29).
In the announcement dated yesterday, the Thai Foreign Ministry said the Russian Foreign Ministry had on Monday (May 25) warned foreign nationals, including diplomatic staff and personnel of international organisations, to evacuate Kyiv immediately while the public was warned to avoid military and Ukrainian government facilities after it launched a massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital following the Ukrainian military’s drone attack on a college dormitory in occupied Lugansk region last Friday (May 22).
In this regard, the Thai Embassy in Moscow requests that Thai citizens residing in the Russian Federation, especially in Moscow and surrounding areas, as well as along the Russian-Ukrainian border, such as Kursk, Belgorod, Rostov-on-Don, and Krasnodar, to continue exercising caution, avoid risky areas and crowded places, and closely monitor news and announcements from the embassy and local authorities.
Those needing assistance or facing an emergency, were told to contact the Consular Section of the Thai Embassy in Moscow at +7 495 109 1199 and the emergency number +7 985 853 8456.
The United States on Thursday levelled unusually harsh criticism against Russia and called for it to refrain from its promised “systematic strikes” against Kyiv, but Moscow brushed off the appeal and reiterated a warning to foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital, according to a Reuters report published by Yahoo!News.
The statements came during a UN Security Council session requested by Ukraine in response to Russia’s bombardment by hundreds of drones and missiles on Sunday against Kyiv and nearby areas.
The barrage included a strike by a nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, at least the third time Moscow has fired the weapon into Ukraine since November 2024.
Condemning Sunday’s barrage, Tammy Bruce, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, called Russia’s use of the Oreshnik “an inexplicable, dangerous and barbaric escalation” of the war that erupted with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“We caution Russia not to mount so-called systematic strikes against Kyiv, which risk further civilian casualties and setting back the prospect of peace,” said Bruce.
At least two civilians died and around 100 were injured in the bombardment that Moscow said was in response to a Ukrainian strike on a student dorm in Donetsk, the eastern region of the same name that Moscow-backed separatists seized in 2014.
Bruce’s comments were among the sharpest criticism of Russia to come from the Trump administration, which has generally taken a more accommodating stance toward Russia than most US allies.
She did not say how the US would respond if Moscow carried out its threat of “systemic strikes.”
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s assertion that Sunday’s barrage targeted key Ukrainian military and intelligence facilities and renewed Russia’s vow to launch new strikes on “decision-making centres and command posts.”
“Since the above facilities are dispersed throughout Kyiv, we warned foreign citizens, including the staff of diplomatic missions and offices of international organisations, about the need to leave the city as soon as possible,” he continued.
CAPTIONS:
Top – Rescue workers try to put out a fire at a residential building after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 24, 2026. Photo: AP/Evgeniy Maloletka and published by CNA
Front Page – Firefighters work at the site of an apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer and published by CNA
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