Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Ukraine
Newsline: Ukraine Accuses Russia of Mailing ‘Bloody Parcels’ to Embassies Across Europe
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister is accusing Russia of sending letters containing explosives and animal eyes to embassies in six European countries. The Associated Press reports Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko claims “bloody parcels” were received by the Ukrainian embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy. Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Madrid, Spain was also on the receiving end of said letters. “We can confirm a suspicious package was received at the US Embassy in Madrid, and are aware of reports of other packages sent to other locations throughout Spain,” the United States embassy told the AP. (https://www.complex.com/life/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-mailing-bloody-parcels-to-embassies-across-europe) The Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, told the outlet that the embassy fell victim to an explosion caused by the parcels. Though no injuries have been reported, the aforementioned embassies have stepped up their security following the threat.
Newsline: Ukraine’s Embassies Received Packages Containing Severed Eyeballs of Dead Animals
Ukraine embassies and consulates across Europe have received grotesque packages this week—many containing bloody animal tissue and animal eyes—according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Embassies and consulates in Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland received increasingly creepy packages. The Ukrainian consulate in Brno, Poland, and the consulate in Naples, Italy, received animal eyes in an envelope “soaked in a liquid of a characteristic color and a correspondent smell.” (https://news.yahoo.com/someone-sending-severed-eyeballs-dead-142214671.html) The Ukrainian Embassy in Spain received a similar package, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said. The entrance to the Ukrainian Embassy to the Vatican was vandalized with graffiti and human feces, according to an employee there, who said they had received subtle threats all week. Police in Italy confirmed they are investigating and will run DNA tests. Embassies to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria received “animal tissue” reportedly stripped of fur.
Newsline: Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan who spoke of killing Russians dismissed
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski has dismissed his ambassador to Kazakhstan, Petro Vrublevsky, who in August said in an interview that the Ukrainians are “trying to kill as many Russians as possible” because the more they kill now, “the less our children will have to kill,” he said. “I released Petro Yuriyovich Vrublevsky from the post of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Kazakhstan,” Zelensky says in a presidential decree published Wednesday. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelensky-dismisses-ukrainian-ambassador-to-kazakhstan-who-spoke-of-killing-as-many-russians-as-possible/ar-AA1384S3?li=BBnbfcL) Those statements by Vrublevsky caused him to be summoned by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, which reproached him that his position is “unacceptable” and “incompatible” with the activities of an ambassador, as they harm friendly relations between the states. Consequently, Russia demanded the expulsion of Vrublevsky, a demand that Astana censured Moscow for “being dissonant with the nature of allied relations between Kazakhstan and Russia as equal strategic partners”.
Newsline: Ukraine mulls cutting diplomatic ties with Iran
Ukraine’s foreign minister says he has proposed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv formally break off diplomatic ties with Iran, after Moscow launched attacks using what Kyiv says are Iranian-made drones. Ukraine said the attacks were carried out with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. Tehran has denied supplying the drones. “Given the amount of destruction Iranian drones have caused to Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, the deaths and injuries caused to our people, as well as … the possible continuation of Iran’s supply of weapons to Russia, I submitted a proposal to break off diplomatic ties with Iran to the Ukrainian president,” Dmytro Kuleba said in a video posted on Facebook Tuesday. “Tehran bears full responsibility for the destruction of relations with Ukraine”, Kuleba told a news conference. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/18/ukraine-foreign-minister-proposes-cutting-ties-with-iran) Kuleba said Kyiv was certain they were Iranian and would be ready to share a “bag of evidence” with any European powers that had doubts.
Newsline: U.S. Embassy not planning evacuation from Kyiv
U.S Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said that the staff of the diplomatic mission was not injured as a result of Russian missile attacks on Kyiv. “Our team at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is safe,” the diplomat wrote on Twitter. “Grateful to those responding and working to keep us safe, and heartbroken for those hurt, here and across Ukraine.” “The embassy is open and we continue to work, we are here to support Ukraine.” (https://news.yahoo.com/u-embassy-not-planning-evacuation-151400219.html) At the same time, the Embassy did call on U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine. “The Embassy urges U.S. citizens to shelter in place and depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options when it is safe to do so” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement emailed to U.S. citizens.
Newsline: German consulate building damaged by Russian missile strike in Kyiv
The building housing a German consulate in Kyiv was hit during Russian missile strikes this morning, 10 October, Germany’s foreign ministry said. “A building in Kyiv, which also houses the German visa office, was damaged by rocket fire this morning… These offices have not been used by our embassy. Our colleagues at the Embassy in Kyiv are well,” officials said. (https://news.yahoo.com/german-consulate-building-damaged-russian-135125452.html) Footage shows the 101 Tower, which houses the visa office of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, damaged from a nearby strike.
Newsline: Ukraine to reduce Iran embassy staff
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador will be revoked and Iranian diplomatic staff in Kyiv reduced as a result of Russian forces using Iranian drones to attack Ukraine. Ukrainian forces had shot down a total of eight Iranian-made drones in the conflict so far, Zelenskyy said in a late-night video address on Friday. ”Today the Russian army used Iranian drones for its attacks on Dnipropetrovsk region and Odesa. I instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strongly react to this fact,” Zelenskyy said in his address. “In response to such an unfriendly act, the Ukrainian side has decided to deprive the ambassador of Iran of his accreditation and also to significantly reduce the number of diplomatic staff of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv,” he said. Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, said in a tweet on Saturday that in response to the supply of weapons to Russia, “we announced the revocation of accreditation of the Iranian Ambassador in Kyiv, and a significant drawdown of diplomatic personnel at the Iranian embassy”. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/24/ukraine-to-reduce-iran-embassy-presence-over-russia-drone-attacks) Iran has denied claims by Kyiv and Washington that it had supplied drones to Russia, and officials in Tehran had previously said Iran would not assist either side in the war as it backed its resolution through dialogue.
Newsline: Ukraine summons Belarus diplomat over Crimea
Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned a senior Belarusian diplomat over the participation of a representative of Crimea’s occupation administration in a Russia-Belarus regional forum, the ministry said. Kyiv’s relations with Moscow deteriorated in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and backed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s Donbass region. “Ukraine considers inadmissible such unfriendly steps by the Belarusian side, which call into question the affiliation to Ukraine of the Russian-occupied Crimea and Sevastopol,” the ministry said in a statement. (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-belarus-election-ukraine-diplomat/ukraine-summons-belarus-diplomat-over-crimea-idUSKBN26M6K4) The ministry said the Belarusian diplomat reassured Kyiv that Minsk’s official position in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity had not been changed. Ukraine’s relations with another neighbour, Belarus, soured when Kyiv condemned the Aug. 9 presidential election in Belarus as neither free nor fair.
Newsline: Kyiv Police Probe Deadly Attack on US Embassy Employee
Police in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have launched an investigation into a deadly attack on a U.S. Embassy employee. Police said in a statement Thursday that a woman was found unconscious the previous day with a head wound in a park near a railway line in Kyiv’s Shevchenko district. The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was rushed to a hospital, where she died hours later, the statement says, adding that documents found in the woman’s purse showed that she was an employee of the U.S. Embassy. (https://www.voanews.com/europe/kyiv-police-probe-deadly-attack-us-embassy-employee) The statement also provided a description of a possible assailant. “[The attacker] may be a man 30-40 years of age, 190-200 centimeters tall, wearing black shorts, dark-blue sneakers and a T-shirt, with dark hair cut short on the sides,” the statement said. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Twitter September 30 that the victim of the attack was an American citizen.
Newsline: Employee of US embassy in Kiev beaten to death
A woman identified as an employee of the US Embassy in Ukraine died of injuries in a hospital in Kiev, according to the local police. The woman, whose name is spelled in Ukrainian as Sanver Nikaelo, was found by the law enforcement officials in an unconscious state with a head injury near a railway track in a forest park in Kiev, according to a statement issued by the National Police of Ukraine. (https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/employee-of-us-embassy-in-kiev-beaten-to-death/1991144) The police are seeking for an alleged attacker, a man between 30 and 40 years old, about 6-foot tall, with short, dark hair, wearing black shorts, dark blue sneakers, and a t-shirt. Investigators are also working at the hospital and at the scene to establish a circle of witnesses.
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