EU and member states summon Russian envoys after Moscow tells foreigners to leave Kyiv

BRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) – Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the European Union summoned Russian representatives on Tuesday after Russia threatened strikes on targets in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and urged foreigners, including diplomats, to leave.

Moscow said on Monday that it intended to mount strikes on Ukrainian military targets and decision-making centres in Kyiv, one day after one of its heaviest bombardments of the city since the war began.

The European Union’s diplomatic service summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires, the bloc’s foreign policy spokesperson said on Tuesday. 

Russia’s “threat to foreign citizens & diplomats to leave Kyiv is an unacceptable escalation”, spokesperson Anitta Hipper said in a post on X, calling for Moscow to “stop hitting civilians”. 

The EU’s delegation is remaining in Kyiv, the spokesperson added. 

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said he had summoned Russia’s ambassador Nikolai Korchunov to address “the explicit threats against foreign personnel in Ukraine”.

Sweden on Monday evening summoned the Russian ambassador to “condemn Russia’s false claims of airspace violations in the Nordic-Baltic region and Russia’s threats against Latvia and other countries in the region”.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, Louise Rasmussen and Linda Pasquini; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Sharon Singleton)