Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday once again urged foreign embassies in Kyiv to evacuate following a Russian strike on a passenger train near the Polish border shortly after European diplomats used the same rail track.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the warning, first issued this spring, “remains relevant” despite occasional diplomatic requests to grant Western “political tourists” safe passage into Ukraine.
“Western politicians and diplomats should make a sober assessment of the existing risks,” Zakharova said in response to a question about Sunday’s attack on a passenger train around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Polish border.
The rail track that was attacked had been used minutes earlier by another train carrying a group including former British prime minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt.
Zakharova accused the politicians of “blatantly ignoring” the warnings of their own governments against visiting Ukraine.
She argued that Ukrainian railway stations and transportation infrastructure used for military purposes were legitimate targets and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of treating Western visitors as “human shields.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its attacks on Sunday targeted infrastructure used to move military cargo from Europe to Ukraine.
Ukraine operates several border crossings with Poland, through which a significant proportion of the military and humanitarian aid from its Western allies is delivered to the country.
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