(CNN) The US government is urging Ukrainian Americans to leave the country immediately, warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch attacks on public institutions and government facilities before Independence Day. of Ukraine.
Wednesday’s anniversary — which marks 31 years since Ukraine broke ties with the Soviet Union — also marks six months since Russia’s unprovoked attack on the country.
“The US Embassy encourages US citizens to leave Ukraine now using privately available transportation options if it is safe to do so,” said a security alert on the embassy’s website. “The security situation across Ukraine is extremely volatile and the situation can deteriorate without warning.”
The renewed US warning comes after similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials that Moscow could carry out heavy attacks, including missile launches, around 24 August.
“We all have to realize that this week Russia may try to do something very bad, something very bad,” Zelensky said in a video message over the weekend.
The Ukrainian government has warned citizens to be “extremely cautious” on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“There is an increasing threat of missile attacks and other conflicts – both internally and externally,” said Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry’s Security Service. Security of Ukraine.
“They are crazy about dates and symbols, so it would be reasonable to be careful and prepare for the fact that Independence Day will also be attacked. Ukraine is ready for this,” he continued.
“The air raid alarm is a serious signal, which everyone should pay attention to. Especially on August 23 and 24 – these are not just words, you should be especially careful,” Yusov added.
In Kyiv, the city’s military administration issued a ban on all large gatherings between Monday and Thursday, saying “it is prohibited to hold mass events, peace meetings, meetings and other events related to a large gathering of people .”
Gen. Mykola Zhyrnov, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the order was put in place so that the security forces could respond “in a timely manner to gun threats and bomb attacks by the Russian Federation’s troops in relation to decision-making centers , military installations, defense industry buildings, important buildings and nearby residential areas.”
Last week, the State Department said it had summoned Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov to a meeting so that the United States could “warn Russia against escalating its war in Ukraine,” a department spokesman said Monday.
This included calling on Russia to “cease all military activity at or near the Ukrainian nuclear site and restore full control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine,” the official added.
The town of Nikopol across the river from the seized factory was shelled on Ukraine’s National Flag Day on Tuesday, a local official said.
Yevhen Yevtushenko, the head of the Nikopol district military administration, warned local people to avoid mass gatherings, open spaces and infrastructure until Thursday.
Kyiv and Moscow have made a series of accusations against each other over security and military operations in and around the facility, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. But the lack of independent access to the plant, which was occupied by Russian forces since March, makes it impossible to verify what is happening there.
Recent satellite images from Maxar Technologies of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant show no signs of “systemic shelling,” despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that the Ukrainian military was carrying out military attacks frequently at that facility.
Tensions in the war escalated this week with the death of Darya Dugina, a Russian politician and daughter of prominent ultranationalist Alexander Dugin.
Russia has blamed Ukrainian special services for his murder, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
“The murder of journalist Darya Dugina was solved, it was prepared by the Ukrainian special services, by a citizen of Ukraine,” TASS reported, citing the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which named the woman as the perpetrator. and said he fled to Estonia after the attack.
Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s murder, calling the FSB’s allegations fiction.
Dugina, the editor of a Russian website, died after a car bomb he was driving went off on the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday evening.
Dugina’s father, Alexander Dugin, is a prominent Russian nationalist who is said to be the architect or “spiritual guide” of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
CNN’s Manveena Suri, Jack Guy, Tim Lister, Uliana Pavlova, Jennifer Hansler and Sarah Dean contributed to this report.
