US Embassy in Kyiv to Reopen by End of May, Diplomat Says

The United States is working to reopen its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, by the end of May, the embassy’s charge d’affaires told a press conference on May 2.

Senior Diplomat Kristina Kvien said during a press conference in Lviv that the diplomatic corps would begin making day trips from Poland to Lviv and Kyiv with a view to reopening the American embassy in Kyiv “by the end of the month.”

The US shuttered its Kyiv embassy on February 14 before moving its diplomatic staff to Poland on February 21. Credit: U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine via Storyful

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KRISTINA KVIEN: So all my team and I have been working day and night in Poland to facilitate the flow of security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to help American citizens in need and telling the story of Ukraine's heroism. We are thrilled to be back. And we'll continue our efforts to do everything possible here on the ground to help Ukraine win this. This is why last week, President Biden requested an additional $33 billion of assistance to Ukraine.

So as our support continues to expand, we look forward to working with Ukrainian government, civil society, and international organizations on the ground in the [INAUDIBLE] and in Kyiv to maximize the impact of our assistance. So today is my first day back in Ukraine, and we're doing it as a day trip. We expect to continue taking day trips for the next week or two. And then, we very much hope that the conditions will permit us to go back into Kyiv by the end of [INAUDIBLE]. I've been saying the message to Russia is you failed. Ukraine is still standing.

The government is still continuing, and we're going back to Libya first, and then Kyiv to help the government. And of course, when you have the large amounts of assistance that are flowing in on the security side and on the humanitarian side. It's always going to be on the ground. We'll make sure that it gets where it needs to go and facilitate its [INAUDIBLE].