Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Monday phone call that Russia will launch "systematic and consistent strikes" against military facilities and "decision-making centers" in Kyiv, and urged the United States to evacuate its diplomats and citizens from the Ukrainian capital, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The warning, conveyed days after one of the largest aerial barrages of the four-year war, marks an unusually explicit pre-notification from Moscow to Washington and lands as the Trump administration's stalled mediation between Russia and Ukraine has formally lapsed. It also signals that the Kremlin intends to escalate the air war over Ukraine's capital even as analysts say its ground forces are losing momentum.
The call
Lavrov spoke with Rubio at the Russian minister's request, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a readout. "The parties exchanged views on the Russia-Ukraine war, bilateral relations, and the situation in Iran," Pigott said. The Russian ministry said Lavrov drew Rubio's attention to a May 25 statement recommending that the United States and other governments with missions in Kyiv arrange the departure of their personnel and citizens.
Moscow said the coming strikes would target facilities for designing, manufacturing and programming drones, along with command posts, and that those sites are "scattered across Kyiv." The ministry told Kyiv residents to stay away from military and government buildings. Lavrov also "expressed regret" at the impasse over a peace deal, the ministry said. CNBC reported it had sought comment from the U.S. and Ukrainian governments.
Weekend barrage
The pre-notification followed a weekend assault in which Russia fired 90 missiles, including 36 ballistic missiles, and 600 drones at Ukraine overnight Saturday into Sunday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The salvo included an Oreshnik intermediate-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile, only the third combat use of the weapon since the war began. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said roughly 300 sites across Kyiv were damaged and that six regions were affected.
"Protection must be strengthened: support for air defense remains a daily priority of Ukraine’s foreign policy work at every level," Zelensky said Monday.
Diplomacy at a standstill
U.S.-led talks have collapsed. Rubio told reporters Friday that the negotiations "were not fruitful" and that there were "no such talks occurring at this time." He said any settlement would have to be negotiated because the war "will not end with a military victory by one side or the other." The United States, he added, is not "interested in getting involved in an endless cycle of meetings that lead to nothing." Earlier this month, President Trump said the end of the war was getting close, and Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a similar assessment. Trump, before returning to the White House, had said he could resolve the war in a day.
Shifting balance
The Kremlin's framing casts the planned attacks as a response to Ukrainian strikes inside Russian territory, including drone raids that Kyiv has used to disrupt Russian supply lines well behind the front. Western analysts cited by Semafor offered a competing read: an Institute for the Study of War analyst said "the war is shifting in favor of Ukrainian forces," and an Atlantic Council expert said "the tide may be turning against Moscow." April was the first month since the summer of 2024 in which Russian forces lost ground. Absent from today's reporting is a sustained Ukrainian or European critique of Washington's decision to step back from mediation; that perspective, typical of left-leaning Western outlets, is not represented in the sources reviewed for this account.
What comes next
The Russian advisory puts the State Department on notice to decide whether to thin its Kyiv mission, a step it has resisted through four years of bombardment. Rubio said the United States stands ready to resume mediation if the talks can be "productive," but with Moscow telegraphing fresh strikes and Kyiv pressing for more air defenses, the near-term path runs through the sky over the capital, not the negotiating table.