US urging citizens to leave Ukraine ahead of Independence Day holiday

The United States embassy in Ukraine has urged US citizens to leave the country ahead of Independence Day in the former Soviet republic. 

The US embassy in Kiev on Tuesday cited intelligence sources as saying Russian forces were planning to launch new offensives this week.

“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days … The US Embassy urges US citizens to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so,” the embassy wrote in an alert.

A US official quoted by Reuters said “we have information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.” The official said the statement was based on downgraded intelligence.

In related news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian forces may carry out missile strikes, particularly on Wednesday, which marks Ukraine's Independence Day.

Zelensky warns of 'ugly' Russian attacks ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of more severe attacks from Russia ahead of the country’s Independence Day.

The occasion will mark 31 years since Ukraine became an independent state from the Soviet Union.

"We must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious," Zelensky said in a video message.

"One of the key tasks of the enemy is to humiliate us, Ukrainians, to devalue our capabilities, our heroes, to spread despair, fear, to spread conflicts ... Therefore, it is important never, for a single moment, to give in to this enemy pressure, not to wind oneself up, not to show weakness," he said.

Kiev's concerns come in the wake of reports that Russian commentator Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent nationalist philosopher, was killed outside Moscow over the weekend.

Russia has accused Ukraine of planting the car bomb that killed Dugina.

Russia’s President Putin says Dugin’s daughter killed in ‘vile, cruel crime’

The Russian president says the daughter of political philosopher Alexander Dugin was killed in a ‘vile and cruel crime.’

Aleksandr Dugin, who is known for his staunch anti-West views, has blamed Ukraine for the car bomb attack that killed his daughter.

He urged Moscow to take revenge for his daughter's death. 

Meanwhile, the deadly Ukraine conflict nears its six-month mark.

Since the onset of Russia's special military operation in the Donbas in late February with the aim of “defending people who for eight years were suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime”, the West has provided billions of dollars worth of weapons and ammunition the Kiev forces to attack Russian targets.

The Russian embassy in the US has warned the capitals providing arms to Kiev, Washington in particular, that their behavior poses the risk of direct conflict between the world's nuclear states.

Dugin urges Russia to avenge his daughter’s murder, blaming Ukraine for it

Russian political philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known for his staunch anti-West views, has blamed Ukraine for the car bomb attack that killed his daughter, urging Russia to avenge the murder.

On Monday, Kiev’s army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said nearly 9,000 Ukrainian forces had died while Ukraine’s General Staff estimated the Russian military death toll to be more than five times higer, or more than 45,000.

Two weeks ago, the US military estimated that Russia had lost 70,000 to 80,000 servicemen, either killed or wounded, in its special military operation in Donbas. 

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