Ukraine crisis: US diplomats return to Kyiv embassy on first visit since attack

The US top diplomat to Ukraine Kristina Kvien and her team arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, officials said, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised on a visit last month to reopen the US embassy in the Ukrainian capital soon.

The move is the latest step toward the resumption of a full U.S. presence in Kyiv after diplomats began returning to the western city of Lviv last month, having left the country ahead of Russia’s Feb. 24 incursion out of security concerns.

Blinken spoke to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday and informed Kuleba that a small group led by Charge d’Affaires Kvien “traveled to Kyiv to conduct diplomatic engagement in advance of the planned resumption of Embassy Kyiv operations,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

The group was accompanied by State Department security, Price said.

Videos posted on social media on Sunday showed a motorcade rolling into the embassy compound.

The team’s visit was timed to commemorate Victory in Europe Day on Sunday, the official said. Russia celebrates the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany on its Victory Day on Monday.

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The team is the first delegation from the Biden administration to visit Ukraine’s capital since the attack, aside from Blinken’s visit alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Blinken and Austin did not visit the embassy.

US first lady Jill Biden separately made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Sunday, crossing into a border town from Slovakia and meeting Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.

Blinken has instructed officials to work toward getting diplomats back in Kyiv as soon as possible “consistent with the safety and security imperatives,” a senior State Department official said.

“The secretary relayed to his senior team and to Foreign Minister Kuleba that our return to Kyiv is a testament to Ukraine’s success, Moscow’s failure, and our effective and enduring partnership with the government and people of a sovereign, democratic, and free Ukraine,” the official said.

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