May 25, 2026
Dmytro Basmat
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 25, in which Lavrov told Rubio that Moscow would begin strikes on “decision-making centers” and urged the U.S. to “ensure the evacuation of their diplomatic personnel,” according to a Russian Foreign Ministry readout.
The phone call follows a statement issued by Russia’s Foreign Ministry earlier in the day announcing plans for a new round of mass long-range strikes on Kyiv, including on Ukraine’s military targets in the capital and “decision-making centers,” in what Moscow called retaliation for a Ukrainian strike in occupied Luhansk Oblast whose target remains disputed. Russia claimed a dormitory was hit, while Ukraine said it had targeted a Russian drone command facility.
According to the readout, Lavrov warned of “systematic and consistent strikes” on Kyiv, while drawing attention to the statement recommending diplomatic missions evacuate staff in Kyiv. The phone call is the officials’ first contact since May 5 when the counterparts reportedly discussed U.S.-brokered peace efforts.
It was not immediately clear as to which party initiated the phone call. The State Department has not yet provided its own read out of the call.
The Kyiv Independent has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Photo: Iori Sagisawa – Pool/Getty Images.
In addition to the threats, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the two officials also discussed the situation in the Strait of Hormuz as well as Cuba.
The threat came just a day after one of Russia’s largest-ever mass missile and drone attacks on the capital, which killed two and injured over 80, as strikes were recorded in almost every district of the city.
In the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement, foreign citizens, including diplomats, were encouraged to leave the city, while Ukrainian civilians were called upon to stay away from “military and administrative infrastructure of the Zelensky regime.”
Overnight on May 22, Ukrainian drones allegedly struck an educational facility in the city of Starobilsk in Luhansk Oblast, which has been occupied by Russia since the first weeks of the full-scale war.
According to Moscow, 21 people, including children, were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on what was a dormitory and a neighboring building of the Starobilsk Pedagological College.
Responding on the same day, Kyiv had called the Russian claim “misleading information,”stressing that it strictly adheres to the international humanitarian law and strikes military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported that a strike was carried out in the area of Starobilsk on a command facility of Russian elite drone unit and school Rubicon, which works across the front line in Ukraine, but did not provide further details.
On May 15, President Zelensky warned of Russian plans to strike the so-called “decision-making centers,” including the building of the President’s Office in central Kyiv.
Russia frequently uses the narrative of retaliation as justification for major strikes against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, despite being the aggressor in its war against sovereign Ukraine.
Despite having the means to do so, Russia has so far mostly refrained from striking the most important government buildings in Kyiv.
Ahead of the phone call, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Ukraine “should not succumb to this Russian blackmail,” urging a “proportional” Western response to the threats, including “additional aid packages and additional sanctions.”
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin must understand that he will achieve nothing through military means. Instead, he needs to save his country, if he still can,” Sybiha added, referring to the impacts of Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russia’s economy.
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Russia announces plans for new mass attacks on Kyiv, including strikes on ‘decision-making centers’
May 25, 2026
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Chris York
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Rants from Kyiv 🇺🇦 News Operations Editor, Kyiv Independent
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From Stand With Ukraine :
Alert: The views expressed in this article or video are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UkraineToday.org. We apologize for any partisan, irrelevant, divisive or questionable content.
From Verso Europa, Stand With Ukraine :
🚨 🇷🇺🇺🇦 Putin wants to end the war by the end of the year, but only on terms that he can present to the Russian population as a victory, – Bloomberg.
▪️Among these conditions are the full capture of Donbas and a broad security agreement with Europe that would effectively recognize Russia’s “territorial gains”;
▪️According to the publication, concern is growing among the Russian elite due to the failure of the spring offensive and regular Ukrainian drone strikes;
▪️Meanwhile, Ukraine and its allies are increasingly confident that Russia’s invasion is running out of steam, as Kyiv stabilizes the front line and halts Moscow’s spring offensive.
Marie Bd, Stand With Ukraine :
The logistics of the Russian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions are completely disrupted, – military correspondent Rybar.
The blue dots on the map – drone strikes on the logistics routes of the separatists.
The logistics of the Russian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions are completely disrupted, – military correspondent Rybar.
– Rybar is a russian Z propaganda channel, the kind that destroys 500 Himars every week and 20k ukrainian soldiers. If they say it’s bad, it must be beyond catastrophic.
-the map attached is a russian map, not a Ukrainian one. They already admit to that much carnage. In reality, it’s clear that Ukraine now controls all the roads in the stolen territories except maybe Crimea itself (but 🇺🇦 controls the entrance roads) .
-the AI mid-range 🇺🇦 drones are only new, this is just the beginning. Production is being scaled up every day.
This may just be rather faster than we’re expecting.
The tide has turned, no question. Permanently.
“According to Moscow, 21 people, including children, were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on what was a dormitory and a neighboring building of the Starobilsk Pedagological College.”
russian newspapers destroyed their own propaganda when they released pictures of these so-called children, along with their names and ages. The youngest was 19, the oldest was 23. They are not children, neither are they students.
I can only pray that our guys are targeting the Kremlin. That’ll get some attention.