Russia has carried out a “massive psychological attack” against Ukraine by spreading a fake warning, attributed to Ukrainian military intelligence, about an impending major airstrike, an intelligence agency in Kyiv said on Wednesday.
“A message is being spread through messengers and social media … about the threat of a 'massive' missile and bomb strike on Ukrainian cities today,” the Main Directorate of Intelligence said in a statement.
“This message is fake, it contains grammatical errors common to Russian knowledge and psychology.”
The US embassy in Kyiv announced it would be closed on Wednesday after receiving a “significant” warning of a possible Russian airstrike and closing “out of an abundance of caution.”
In a statement, the embassy also ordered staff to shelter in place and recommended that US citizens in the Ukrainian capital be prepared to take shelter immediately in the event of an air strike.
Ukraine: The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received some information about a possible major airstrike on Nov 20. The embassy will be closed and recommends that U.S. citizens be prepared to take shelter immediately if an airstrike is announced. pic.twitter.com/m8cWXCXT2V
The Italian and Greek embassies in Kyiv said they also closed their doors after the US warning, while the French Embassy remained open but urged its citizens to be cautious. The German Embassy has “limited operations” in the city and will not provide consular services until further notice, Germany's Federal Foreign Office said.
The Canadian embassy in the capital has “temporarily suspended humanitarian services due to the security situation,” the government said in an online statement.
The US warning was unusual in its specificity as Russian airstrikes have become a regular, daily occurrence in Ukraine.
But it came a day after Moscow said US-made ballistic missiles were used in a Ukrainian attack on a weapons depot in the Bryansk region after US President Joe Biden authorized their use.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons, with a revised doctrine he announced on Tuesday that allows for a possible nuclear response by Moscow and even a conventional attack on Russia by any nuclear-backed nation. That could include a US-backed invasion of Ukraine
Western leaders have dismissed the Russian move as an attempt to prevent Ukraine's allies from providing more support to Kyiv, but tensions weighed on stock markets after Ukraine used a US-made ATACMS missile for the first time to hit an internal target. in Russia.
Putin said in September that if the West allows Ukraine to strike inside Russia with long-range weapons, “it will mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries are at war with Russia.”
“And if that's the case, if we remember to change the context of the conflict, we will be making the right decisions based on the threats that will be put to us,” said Putin.
American landmines are authorized
On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Biden administration would allow Ukraine to use American anti-personnel bombs to help fight Russian forces. Speaking to reporters on a trip to Laos, he said the change in policy follows a change in Russian tactics.
Austin said that Russian ground forces lead the movement on the battlefield, often without the additional protection of an armored vehicle, so Ukraine “has a need for things that can help reduce that effort on the part of the Russians.”
Russia has recently stepped up its airstrikes, launching coordinated drone and missile barrages to target energy infrastructure this week as temperatures begin to drop.
After nearly three years of bombings, many Ukrainians are welcoming the possibility of retreating deeper into Russian territory as the US is warned not to escalate the war.
Military analysts say the US decision on the range that US missiles can use is not expected to change the war, but it could help weaken Russia's military, according to the Institute for the Study of. War, a Washington think tank.
“Ukraine's long-term strikes against Russia's rear-end weapons are critical to degrading Russia's military capabilities in all theaters,” it said.
After confirming that Ukraine had struck Russian territory using long-range missiles supplied by the US, the Kremlin announced that it was lowering its limit on the use of nuclear weapons.
