Russia has warned it plans to launch a “series of systematic strikes” on defence industrial facilities in Kyiv, and urged foreign citizens to leave the Ukrainian capital.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the strikes are in response to a Ukrainian drone attack last week that struck a student dorm in Starobilsk in the occupied Luhansk region, killing at least 18 people.

Ukraine has raised its drone warfare capabilities in recent months, and has seen significant success in striking Russian targets, energy infrastructure in particular. Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour four years ago and claims four of Ukraine’s eastern regions as its own, has branded those attacks as “terrorism” and responded with large missile and drone launches.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in Monday’s statement that the strike on Starobilsk signalled “the last straw” and that Russia will launch a systematic series of strikes in response, which will target “specific sites where UAVs are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for use”.

Noting that such facilities “are scattered throughout Kyiv,” the statement said it was warning “foreign citizens, including personnel of diplomatic missions and international organisations, to leave the city as soon as possible”.

It also urged Kyiv residents to avoid approaching military and administrative infrastructure facilities”, the statement read.

A later statement issued by the foreign ministry said that Foreign Minister ⁠Sergei Lavrov had ⁠advised US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of the plan and urged him to evacuate US embassy staff from Kyiv.

Lavrov reportedly told Rubio by telephone that the move was initiated “in response to the continuing terrorist attacks by ⁠the Kyiv regime ⁠against the peaceful population and civilian sites on Russian territory.”

‘Terror and murder’

Launched overnight on Thursday into Friday, the drone salvo that hit Starobilsk – one of Ukraine’s deadliest such strikes in months – also wounded 42 people.

The Foreign Ministry statement labelled it a “flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law”, and “yet another blatant demonstration of the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kyiv regime, which deliberately attacks civilians and does not hesitate to murder children in cold blood”.

Ukraine’s ⁠military has denied responsibility for the strike on the student dorm, saying it had struck ‌an elite drone command unit.

Commenting on Moscow’s threat and call for foreigners to leave Kyiv, Ukraine’s Foreign ⁠Minister Andrii Sybiha urged allies not to give in to “‌Russian blackmail”.

More than 70 foreign diplomats on Monday paid their respects to the victims of the strikes in Kyiv, visiting a heavily damaged neighbourhood.

French Ambassador Gael Veyssiere noted that ordinary people had returned to work on Monday and were going about their daily lives.

“It’s ⁠a way to demonstrate resilience and I think it’s extremely important that we, around the world, we would ⁠support that,” Veyssiere told the Reuters news agency.

However, the threat is unlikely to be idle. Russia has heavily targeted Kyiv and its surrounding areas with massive missile and drone attacks since the Starobilsk strike.

At least four people were reported to have been killed and more than 60 injured, according to Ukrainian authorities in overnight strikes on the capital and surrounding region.

Russia confirmed on Sunday that it had used an Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile. It is the third time the nuclear-capable weapon has been used in Moscow’s four-year war.

On Monday, Ukrainian officials reported that strikes killed several people in the eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted that strikes targeting Russia’s oil industry and military production facilities are “entirely justified” following a Russian attack that flattened an apartment block in Kyiv, killing at least 24 people. (Al Jazeera)

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