Ukraine parliament cancels session over threat of Russian attack

Ukraine’s parliament has cancelled Friday’s session, lawmakers said, citing the risk of a Russian missile attack on the district of Kyiv where government buildings are located.

The move comes after several foreign embassies, including the US representative office, shuttered temporarily over the threat of a strike on Kyiv.

“The hour of questions to the government has been cancelled,” Yevgenia Kravchuk, an MP from the ruling party told AFP. “There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days.”

The cancellation also comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West by test-firing a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine.

Another member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on social media that it was “ridiculous” to cancel the session.

“They created even more panic. In fact, they played into Putin’s hands. What a circus,” he wrote on Telegram.

A staff parliament staffer confirmed to AFP that “everyone” was working remotely on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s spokesman told journalists that the presidential office was working as usual.

Kyiv has been targeted by Russian missiles and drones routinely throughout the full-scale invasion launched by the Kremlin in February 2022.