Western embassies weigh moving from Kyiv to Lviv or Poland, Ukraine denies

Western diplomats publicly say they will remain in Kyiv, aware that leaving would be a propaganda victory for Russia, but some privately discuss contingency plans to relocate embassies to Lviv or eastern Poland, The Guardian reported on October 2, citing two senior diplomats. The plans would be activated if Russia begins targeted strikes on foreign diplomatic missions. Kyiv faces a dangerous combination of Patriot interceptor shortages and faster Russian jet-powered drones, prompting a rush to deploy new interceptor drones, though scaling up may take weeks or months. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi denied the reports, stating no foreign missions have informed the ministry of any relocation plans as of Friday evening.