American citizens have again been urged to get out of Ukraine ahead of potentially imminent Russian strikes on civilian areas.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in an alert Tuesday that U.S. authorities have “information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
“The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so,” the alert said.
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The warning coincided with equally alarming news from the Ukrainian defense ministry, which said “elevated radiation levels” had been detected around the Zaporizhia power plant in Enerhodar as a result of Russian shelling.
Russian forces have resorted to a “new method” at the largest power plant in Europe, the defense ministry said: targeting areas that store ash from the plant that contains high levels of radiation.
“As a result of the mortar strikes on the ash dumps, clouds of dust are forming and being carried by the wind throughout Enerhodar,” the agency warned, noting that the radioactive dust is “able to travel long distances.”
Russia, after seizing control of the power plant and loading it up with military equipment, has resisted calls to demilitarize the area in order to prevent a potential Chernobyl-style disaster. Ukrainian authorities say Russian troops have been launching attacks from the facility and using it as a shield.
The U.S. warning also came amid mounting calls in Russia for troops to avenge the death of “Russian patriot” Darya Dugina by unleashing new devastation on Ukraine, which the FSB claims is behind the car bombing that killed Dugina over the weekend.
Dugina, a political commentator hit with sanctions by the U.S. for her alleged involvement in a Kremlin disinformation campaign, was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage by President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The daughter of far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin, a philosopher commonly known as “Putin’s brain” for his purported influence over the Russian president, was hailed as a martyr at a memorial ceremony in Moscow on Tuesday attended by a slew of Kremlin figures.
Dugin, paying tribute to his daughter, took the stage to say she had died “for Russia” and that “the front is already here.” “She lived in the name of victory, she died in the name of our Russian victory,” he said, according to Russian media.
The ceremony was also reportedly attended by well-known propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov; “Putin’s chef” and alleged Wagner financier Yevgeny Prighozin; and Russian lawmakers, including Leonid Slutsky, who delivered a speech in which he claimed a street would be named after Dugina in Kyiv.
“One country! One president! One victory!” Slutsky proclaimed, using phrasing that some journalists noted was eerily reminiscent of a Nazi slogan to predict Ukraine would be “liberated from Naziism.”
Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s death and cast doubt on Russia’s claim that a woman working for Ukraine’s security services pulled off the assassination with her 12-year-old daughter in tow.
But Ukrainian authorities have made clear they are bracing for fresh missile strikes as the country celebrates Independence Day on Wednesday. Large public gatherings were banned in the capital ahead of the holiday, and government workers were reportedly ordered to work from home all week.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, commenting Tuesday on fears of new devastating Russian strikes, said “there is a threat” of fresh attacks but stressed that Ukraine was already used to that “daily” threat since Russia unleashed a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.
“If they hit us, they will receive a powerful response,” he said.
