The Dutch, German, Polish, and Swedish foreign ministries also called in Russian ambassadors after a rolling series of threats, issued first by foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova<\/a>, then foreign minister Sergei Lavrov<\/a>, and deputy-security head Dmitry Medvedev<\/a>, who said Moscow would \u201ctrim \u2026 the head count\u201d of EU diplomats in Ukraine if they did not evacuate. <\/p>\n If Russia did hit an EU embassy in Kyiv, for instance with a high-tech Oreshnik missile, it would not be the first time it had damaged European diplomatic missions during the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n Pro-Russian paramilitary fighters fired a grenade launcher at the Polish consulate in the town of Lutsk in 2017, for instance.<\/p>\n A Russian airstrike destroyed Slovenia\u2019s consulate in Kharkiv in 2021, while a stray missile hit the German consulate in Kyiv in 2022, and two missile strikes 20 seconds apart and 50m from the EU embassy in the Ukrainian capital on 8 August 2025 shattered windows and knocked down ceiling tiles.<\/p>\n But it would mark a new height of criminality if Putin hit an embassy on purpose after having publicly telegraphed his intentions in advance.<\/p>\n Terrorist attacks on embassies and collateral damage in wartime were common in history, but \u201cthis would be unheard of in modern times,\u201d said an EU diplomat on Wednesday, citing the post-WWII Geneva and Vienna conventions<\/a> on \u201cwar crimes\u201d and diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n \u201cPutin knows very well that bombing Western diplomats would be an unprecedented escalation,\u201d a second EU diplomat said.<\/p>\n A third EU diplomat told this website: \u201cShould that ever happen, it would have enormous consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s bombing of Iran\u2019s consulate in Damascus in 2024 was even seen as a casus belli by Tehran.<\/p>\n But a Russian strike on a German or Polish embassy in Kyiv would not qualify to trigger Nato\u2019s Article V on mutual territorial defence, said former senior Nato official Jamie Shea<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fly on EU wall<\/p>\n And yet, given the gravity of the issue, a fly on the wall in Malayan\u2019s meeting at the EU foreign service in Brussels on Tuesday, or in any of the similar meetings in Berlin, The Hague, Stockholm, and Warsaw, might not have been impressed with Europe\u2019s pushback.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t see the readout [on Malayan], but I can tell you how these things usually go,\u201d said an EU contact.<\/p>\n \u201cMalayan would have driven down the road to the foreign-service building with a notetaker, who was probably an SVR or GRU goon<\/a>,\u201d he told EUobserver, referring to Russia\u2019s foreign and military intelligence services.<\/p>\n \u201cHe probably would have met with [Matti] Maasikas<\/a> \u2013 no one higher up than that,\u201d the diplomat added, referring to an EU official, who is \u201cmanaging director\u201d of EU foreign-service chief Kaja Kallas\u2019 \u201cEurope\u201d department and who used to be EU ambassador in Kyiv.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Malayan] would have heard out Maasikas, rolling his eyes or making stupid faces, but without replying directly to any of the EU\u2019s complaints,\u201d the diplomat said.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he [Malayan] would have seized the floor to accuse the EU of backing \u2018Ukrainian terrorists, who bomb schools, and slaughter innocent women and children\u2019,\u201d the EU diplomat added.<\/p>\n \u201cIn other words, it was a meeting between the deaf [Russia] and the dumb [EU], even though it was still necessary in protocol terms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some Russia watchers told EUobserver the latest EU diplomat threats were merely a sideshow by Russian president Vladimir Putin to distract Russian people\u2019s attention from the fact his invasion of Ukraine was going badly<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keir Giles, an English writer on Russia, called Medevdev the Kremlin\u2019s \u201ccourt jester\u201d. <\/p>\n Giles also made light of Lavrov\u2019s remarks on the subject to US secretary of state Marco Rubio: \u201cInteresting. So, he [Lavrov] is implying \u2026 they [the Russians] don\u2019t have sufficient targeting accuracy to be sure they are not going to hit US facilities [in Kyiv]\u201d.<\/p>\n Putin a bit \u2018desperate\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cFor many in Brussels, it [Russia\u2019s Kyiv threat] seems quite desperate,\u201d said an EU diplomat.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one takes it seriously,\u201d said another. <\/p>\n Medvedev\u2019s threat to \u201ctrim\u201d the EU \u201chead count\u201d X post did appeal to some Russian war-influencers, such as \u2018Z-blogger\u2019 German Kulikovsky<\/a> and Telegram poster \u2018Fighterbomber\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe a few diplomats will die? Well, it happens, it\u2019s war, after all. And in the end, this can be used to great advantage. Especially if diplomats from the \u2018right countries\u2019 die,\u201d wrote Fighterbomber on Tuesday.<\/p>\n But most Russia war-bloggers ignored the Kremlin, while complaining about Ukraine-war losses, or saying that Putin\u2019s firing of an Oreshnik at Kyiv on 25 May was a PR stunt and a waste of money.<\/p>\n If Putin ever did bomb an EU embassy, it would likely trigger tougher sanctions.<\/p>\n The European Commission is currently holding \u201cconfessionals\u201d (behind-closed-doors interviews with member states\u2019 ambassadors) to see what to include in the 21st round of Russia measures<\/a>, which could be adopted at an EU foreign ministers\u2019 meeting in Luxembourg on 15 June.<\/p>\n As things stand, this is to include more visa-bans and asset-freezes \u201con those contributing to Russia\u2019s military-industrial complex and enabling shadow-fleet activities,\u201d an EU diplomat said.<\/p>\n If Putin ever did what Medvedev threatened, it would trigger harsher economic sanctions, as well as \u201cstrongly worded statements, recalling some [EU] ambassadors [from Moscow], expelling some Russian diplomats [from EU capitals],\u201d another diplomat told EUobserver on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Diplomatic \u2018outrage\u2019<\/p>\n But that would still amount to doing \u201cnothing\u201d, the EU diplomat said.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, all these measures would still qualify as expressing diplomatic \u2018outrage\u2019 \u2026 We are running out of possibilities on what to do [to curb Putin\u2019s aggression]. If we knew what to do we would have done it by now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/P-058852_00-03_01-ORIGINAL-126422-2400x1598.jpg\")
EU foreign service \u2018managing director\u2019 Matti Maasikas (l) with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (r) (Source: EU Commission<\/a>)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vbSzV0iaO46u2NueTEeHSk15A76oyPF3.jpg\")
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov (l) with former Hungarian foreign minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 (c) and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin (Source: Kremlin<\/a>).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/692872090_1408391591322130_8965476906048708998_n.jpg\")
Russian charg\u00e9 d\u2019affairs ad interim to the EU, Malayan (r), at a war memorial in Brussels (Source: mid.ru<\/a>)<\/p>\n