Denmark and Italy have joined the countries expelling Russian diplomats in connection to atrocities committed by Vladimir Putin’s invading forces in Ukraine. Recent reports from the country have focused on, among other areas of concern, recently liberated areas around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Massacres of civilians took place in jurisdictions that Russian personnel occupied — in Irpin, the mayor recently stated that between 200 and 300 civilians died, and in the nearby Bucha, there’s “information about more than three hundred people killed and tortured in” the town, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “It is likely that the list of victims will be much larger when the whole city is checked. And this is only one city,” Zelenskyy added.
⚡️Denmark expels 15 Russian diplomats.
Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said on April 5 that they had worked for Russian intelligence, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 5, 2022
Denmark is forcing out 15 Russian diplomats, while Italy is removing 30 of Russia’s diplomatic personnel. Danish intelligence concluded this year that the Russian embassy in their country featured multiple individuals on staff who were involved in espionage work for the Kremlin. Authorities in Denmark “want to send a clear signal to Russia that espionage on Danish soil is unacceptable,” the country’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod remarked. As for the removals of Russian personnel from Italy, that country’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said the “measure is in agreement with other European and Atlantic partners and is necessary for reasons linked to our national security and in the context of the current crisis caused by the unjustified aggression against Ukraine on the part of the Russian Federation.”
⚡️Italy expels 30 Russian diplomats.
Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio attributed the move to Russian aggression against Ukraine.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 5, 2022
Spain is also expelling around two dozen Russian diplomats. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Tuesday that his country “decided to expel Russian diplomats and staff from the Russian embassy in Spain who represent a threat to the interests and security of our country.” Albares also tied the expulsions to “the terrible actions carried out in the past days in Ukraine especially in Bucha and the ones reported today from Mariupol,” according to Reuters.
⚡️ Spain to expel 25 Russian diplomats.
FM Jose Manuel Albares announced that Spain is finalizing the list of diplomats who “represent a threat to the security interests of Spain after the terrible actions in Ukraine, especially in Bucha,” Albares said as quoted by El Pais.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 5, 2022
Other countries across Europe to recently announce expulsions of Russian diplomatic personnel include Lithuania, which is forcing the closure of an entire Russian consulate and expelling Russia’s ambassador to Lithuania. The Lithuanian ambassador to Russia was also revealed to be exiting Moscow, and the Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine was announced to be heading back to Kyiv. The administrative region around Kyiv was recently cleared of Russian forces, although threats there haven’t been completely eliminated. Besides the explosive devices Russian forces left behind in civilian areas, airstrikes in regions where Russian forces withdrew also stand to continue. “The shift of the battlefield does not mean that Russia will stop air strikes with long-range missiles and aircraft throughout the rest of Ukraine,” the Center for Combating Disinformation at the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council recently stated. The Kyiv Independent reported early Tuesday in Ukraine that air raid sirens went off in “almost every region” of the country, including the administrative area around Kyiv and the capital itself. Russian forces were recently reported to be attempting to take control of the second-largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, and assaults are also continuing in Mariupol, where thousands have already died.
Day 41 of Ukraine resistance. As the massive scale of atrocities committed by Russian troops who withdrew from Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions emerges, Russia prepares for a new assault on Eastern Ukraine. It aims to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's defense ministry said
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) April 5, 2022
