France to relocate its embassy in Ukraine from Lviv to Kyiv

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - France will relocate its embassy to Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv even as the Russian war continues to rage, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian informed his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that the relocation of the diplomatic mission will take place from Lviv to Kyiv “very soon and will deepen the support of France to Ukraine in all fields to face the war,” according to the ministry’s statement.

Kuleba welcomed “the fact that France's representation to Ukraine, which has been maintained on Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the war, could return to the Ukrainian capital,” the statement added.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, also hailed the return of the envoy and the embassy to his city as a “sign of things returning to normalcy." He told BFMTV news that although life has not yet returned to normal, the situation is "calmer" now.

Following the outbreak of the war on Feb. 24, the embassy and its staff were moved out of the capital for safety reasons. Throughout the war, Paris has maintained a diplomatic presence and offered military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Kyiv.

The government is currently assisting Ukrainian authorities in investigating and collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces in order to launch a case under international jurisdiction. ​​​​​​​