“We have decided, at the request of the President of the Republic, to transfer our embassy which was until now in Kiev. Due to the risks and threats hanging over the capital of Ukraine, the embassy is transferred to Lviv,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The French embassy in Ukraine is moved from Kiev to Lviv, in the west of the country, because of the “risks and threats” weighing on the Ukrainian capital after the Russian invasion, the French Minister of Affairs announced on Monday. French foreigners. “We have decided, at the request of the President of the Republic, to transfer our embassy which was until now in Kiev. Due to the risks and threats hanging over the capital of Ukraine, the embassy is transferred to Lviv,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian on BFMTV. Before France, the United States, Canada and Israel had already made this transfer to Lviv.
“The ambassador remains in Ukraine, to be both in support of our nationals and the Ukrainian authorities”, continued the minister, who estimated at “about a thousand” the number of French people still present on Ukrainian territory. . According to a diplomatic source, this figure is higher than expected because several hundred of them had not registered before the war launched by Russia. While France has so far advised its nationals to “not move”, “it seems that there is, in the coming hours, a window of opportunity” to leave the capital by its south, has observed the head of French diplomacy.
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Russia has declared that this route will remain open. They still have to respect it
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“Russia has declared that this path will remain free. They still have to respect it,” he commented. In the interview Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin had on Monday, the latter “again guaranteed this opportunity”, insisted Mr. Le Drian. “We accompany the French, our nationals, who take the road to Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, where they will be welcomed by our agents who are on site to ensure their follow-up”, he explained. Those whose crisis center at the Quai d’Orsay has the telephone number will be followed “individually”, “very closely”, but “not by convoys”, indicated Mr. Le Drian. Waiting times at border posts currently vary between two and four days, according to the diplomatic source.
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