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Lapid orders relocation of Ukraine embassy amid Russian invasion threat
Israeli mission to move from Kyiv to Lviv, as Foreign Ministry officials prepare for possible land evacuation of the country’s 150,000-200,000 Jews
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday directed Israel’s embassy in Kyiv to relocate to Lviv in western Ukraine amid the threat of an imminent Russian invasion.
Lapid and ministry staff in Jerusalem held detailed discussions on the logistics of the move, a ministry spokesman said following a situational assessment.
Embassy staff will work from the temporary consular office opened in Lviv last Thursday, which is located in an office rented by Israel.
Other western nations, including the US and UK, moved their embassy staff to Lviv last week.
Separately, the Jewish Agency for Israel announced Monday that it was also moving its emissaries from Kyiv to Lviv.
The agency said it will continue to operate and provide services to Jews in Kyiv through local workers, and that it will reassess the decision early next week.
The phone number of the office in Lviv is: +380935402099.
The Foreign Ministry is prepared for any development, including the possibility of a land exit. Within this framework, Israeli diplomats stationed in Lviv as well as those serving in Poland, Slovakia, Romania…(3/4)
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) February 21, 2022
Israel’s diplomats in Ukraine have been working to convince the 15,000 Israelis in the country before the tensions to leave, but only around 3,100 have done so.
They are also preparing for the dramatic possibility of a land evacuation of the country’s Jews, estimated to number from 150,000-200,000.
On Sunday, Israeli diplomats serving in countries bordering Ukraine — Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova — visited border crossings and met with the officials in charge of the stations to discuss a potential land evacuation of Israelis and Ukrainian Jews should Russia invade.
Israel is operating on two core assumptions — the Israelis who wanted to fly out on the 40 flights over the past 10 days have already done so, and Ukraine’s skies will be closed in the event of a Russian invasion.
In recent weeks, according to US intelligence, Moscow has massed an invasion force of troops, tanks, missile batteries and warships around Ukraine’s borders in Belarus, Russia, Crimea and the Black Sea.
US President Joe Biden has said that US intelligence believes that Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine and that commanders are readying units to attack within days.
