Kyiv jittery but unphased by threat of Russian attack on US embassy after Atacms strikes
By Simon Newton, BFBS Forces News' Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv
As we walked into the lobby of our hotel in Kyiv the siren sounded again.
The Air Alert app on our phones erupted as a stern voice (you can choose one, just like a sat nav) told us to head for the nearest shelter.
On Telegram, Ukrainian channels said Kyiv was under threat of a ballistic missile strike.
For the residents of Kyiv these alarms are so frequent most now ignore them.
But along with dozens of diplomats, journalists and businesspeople we headed to the hotel's underground car park.
In this subterranean refuge, staff have laid out bean bags, reclining chairs, even a few beds to make the stay more comfortable.
A few days ago – for the first time – Ukraine used American Atacms long-range missiles to hit an arms depot in the Bryansk region of Russia.
Then came another attack, this time a Russian military command post in the town of Gubkin in Russia's Belgorod region, around 168km (105 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
President Biden's decision to finally allow Ukraine to use Atacms against targets inside Russia has, of course, sparked loud protestations from Moscow.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Brazil, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of escalation.
The US decision, he said, marked a "new phase" of the war and Russia would "react accordingly".
The Kremlin's foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow would retaliate against any Nato country that helped Ukraine launch missile strikes into Russia.
All of that, unsurprisingly, has made this city a bit jittery.
Then today came an announcement that seemed to confirm Russia was about to retaliate.
The US Embassy in Kyiv said it was closing amid fears it was about to be targeted.
On the embassy's website, officials said they had "specific information of a potential significant air attack".
Out of an "abundance of caution" they said, they were closing for the day.
Soon afterwards, Spain, Italy and Greece also closed their doors.
On social media, the head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation said Russia had been stockpiling ballistic missiles for months, including Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles.
Then, this afternoon, a warning appeared on some Ukrainian social channels.
Messages about the threat of a "particularly massive" airstrike on Kyiv were fake they said, part of a disinformation effort by Russia's largest military intelligence agency the GUR.
"We urge you to trust only information from official resources," said one Ukrainian channel.
"Do not ignore air raid signals – it is safer to wait in the shelter. However, we urge you not to panic."
Ukrainians I spoke to today were also pretty unphased.
"They do this all the time," one young man in his 30s told me.
"It happens every three or four months. They just want to stress out the Americans who are here and make them leave."
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