On May 26, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated to reporters that Russia is carefully monitoring the response from Washington with regard to Russia’s Foreign Ministry statement the day before promising an unprecedented series of strikes on “decision-making centers” in Kiev. “We do not have any information on that at this point,” Peskov said when asked about Washington’s response to the statement. “We have heard some statements from officials in European capitals and EU representatives in Kiev. Our priority here is the warning that we sent,” he added.
Russia’s keen interest in Washington’s response is notable in the context of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s phone call to Secretary of State Marco Rubio May 25. After Lavrov personally delivered the warning that all diplomatic staff should evacuate “as soon as possible,” he then “recalled the arrangements concerning the Ukrainian conflict made at the US initiative during the summit in Anchorage in August 2025, and expressed regret over the brazen activities of the European elites and the Kiev regime that are undermining these arrangements,” according to the foreign ministry.
