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Lavrov warns Rubio to evacuate US diplomats and citizens from Kyiv ahead of planned strikes
Russia's foreign minister delivered the message during a phone call on May 25, raising the specter of intensified military operations targeting Ukraine's capital.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pull American diplomats and citizens out of Kyiv, citing planned Russian military strikes on the Ukrainian capital. The warning came during a phone call on May 25, carrying what Lavrov described as a message from President Vladimir Putin about imminent operations targeting Ukrainian military facilities and decision-making centers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a parallel statement the same day, broadening the evacuation recommendation beyond just American personnel.
A pattern of escalation warnings
This is not the first time Russia has issued such warnings in recent weeks. Between May 6 and May 8, Moscow delivered similar evacuation advisories linked to potential disruptions around Victory Day commemorations on May 9. Those earlier warnings did not result in the kind of large-scale strikes they seemed to telegraph.
Where the Victory Day advisories were framed around protecting celebrations from Ukrainian provocations, the May 25 message explicitly references planned Russian offensive operations. Moscow is not warning about what Ukraine might do. It is signaling what Russia intends to do.
The phrase “decision-making centers” is particularly loaded in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russian military officials have used it repeatedly since 2022 to describe government buildings, military command posts, and intelligence facilities in Kyiv. Historically, when that language appears in official communications, it has preceded strikes on infrastructure in or near the capital.
As of the latest reporting, the US has not publicly confirmed any evacuation measures or issued a formal response to Lavrov’s warning.
Geopolitical risk and the crypto calculus
So far, no specific tokens or digital assets have shown measurable reactions to the May 25 warning. When Russia issued its May 6-8 evacuation warnings, Bitcoin and other major assets experienced brief volatility before settling back to prior levels once the threatened escalation failed to materialize.