“The US Embassy in Kiev has received specific information about a possible major airstrike on November 20. As a precaution, the Embassy will be closed and Embassy personnel will be instructed to shelter in place,” the US Embassy announced on its website.
On November 19, Russia warned that it would retaliate after Ukraine fired a US-made long-range missile into its territory. This was the first time the US had allowed Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russian territory in the nearly three-year conflict.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that the attack on Russia's Bryansk region on November 19 "was carried out with ATACMS missiles" provided by the US.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the attack showed that Western countries wanted to "escalate" the conflict.
“We will see this as a new stage in the West’s war against Russia,” Lavrov said at a press conference at the G20 summit in Brazil. “And we will act accordingly.”
This week, the US said it had authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS against military targets inside Russian territory - a long-standing request by Ukraine.
