By Anastasiia Malenko and Tom Balmforth

kyiv (Reuters) – The United States closed its embassy in kyiv on Wednesday due to “specific reports of a potential significant air attack” and told its Ukrainian citizens to be prepared to quickly seek refuge.

The Italian and Greek embassies said they had also closed their doors after the unusual warning from the United States, while the French embassy remained open but urged its citizens to exercise caution.

On Tuesday, Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to attack a weapons depot in Russia, making use of newly granted authorization by the outgoing US President Joe Biden administration on the 1,000th day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Russia has been signaling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, Moscow will consider that a major escalation.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the embassy will be closed and embassy employees are instructed to shelter in place,” the U.S. Department of State for Consular Affairs said in a statement posted on the embassy website. ’embassy.

“The U.S. Embassy recommends that U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately seek shelter in the event an air alert is announced.”

The Kremlin said it had no comment. Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview published Wednesday that Moscow will retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range Ukrainian missile strikes against Russian territory.

Ukrainian military intelligence announced on Wednesday that a Russian military command post had been “successfully struck” in the town of Gubkin in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 168 km from the border with Ukraine.

The Ukrainian statement raises the possibility of a second ATACMS strike, but does not specify who carried out the attack, when it took place or the type of weapon used. Ukraine has also used drones to carry out deep strikes against targets in Russia.

The war is at a volatile moment, with a fifth of Ukraine’s territory in Russian hands, North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region and doubts about the future of Western aid as US president-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on the national power grid on Sunday, which killed seven people and reignited fears about the sustainability of the hobbled energy grid.

“PERSISTENT RUSSIAN ATTACKS”

The embassy in kyiv urged U.S. citizens in Ukraine to have supplies of water, food and other essentials such as medicines needed in the event of a “possible temporary loss of electricity and water.” » caused by Russian strikes.

“Continued Russian attacks targeting civilian infrastructure across Ukraine could lead to power outages, loss of heat and disruption of municipal services,” he said.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a wider range of conventional attacks. Washington later said it saw no reason to adjust its nuclear posture.

Commenting on the US Embassy’s warning on Wednesday, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian Security Council’s Center for Combating Disinformation, said Russia was ready to carry out more missile strikes.

“Let me remind you that the Russians have been stockpiling missiles for months for a series of attacks against Ukraine. This includes Kh-101 missiles, which they continue to produce, as well as Kalibr and ballistic missiles ” he said.

Kyiv was the target of a nighttime drone attack, which caused minor damage.

The army said it shot down 56 drones and lost track of 58 others following what it described as an “active counterattack.” Six drones also left Ukrainian airspace and two out of six missiles were shot down, the statement added.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Anastasiia Malenko, Kanjyik Ghosh and Tom Balmforth; editing by Christopher Cushing, Himani Sarkar, Philippa Fletcher)