Israel Moves Embassy from Kyiv to Lviv as Shelling Intensifies

As shelling along the Russia-Ukraine border intensified on Monday, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid issued the order for Israel’s embassy in the capital Kyiv to relocate to Lviv in western Ukraine.

The move had been discussed and plans drawn up over recent weeks, and Lapid and ministry staff in Yerushalayim held further meetings on the logistics involved of the move, according to a ministry spokesman.

Some operations have already been transferred. The consular offices in Lviv have been providing Israelis with travel documents since Thursday and will continue to assist Israeli citizens in exiting to safer locations through Ukraine’s land borders.

Other western nations, including the U.S. and U.K., moved their embassy staff to Lviv last week.

On Monday, two Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed and three wounded in an artillery attack on the frontline village Zaitseve, about 18 miles north of the rebel stronghold Donetsk.

Earlier in the day, a Ukrainian civilian was killed in a shelling attack on a government-held village, Novoluganske, also near Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said.

The death marked the first officially-confirmed civilian casualty of the year since Russia massed troops on the border.