The EU delegation in Kyiv is preparing to resume normal operations after staff were forced to work remotely for several days due to damage caused by a Russian air strike, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová.
“We are not leaving Kyiv,” Mathernová stressed, noting that cleanup of the premises was already underway so the mission could be “open for business” again soon. She described the scale of destruction as a “huge shock” for her team and said Europe as a whole should be alarmed that Russia struck so close to diplomatic buildings.
“Targeting a site just 80 or 90 metres from the EU delegation, the British Council, and the Azerbaijani embassy shows a reckless disregard for the consequences. The Russians know exactly what happens when you hit a building with two cruise missiles, as they did last week,” she said.
Although the EU premises suffered extensive damage, no staff were injured because the strike occurred just after 5 a.m. local time, when offices were empty. Most of the windows on the side of the blast were destroyed, along with the air conditioning system, glass fixtures, furniture, computers, doors, and even cars in the garage, Mathernová explained. “The only silver lining was the timing; had this happened during working hours, it would have been horrendously worse.
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