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Swiss to re-open Ukraine embassy

kiev city hall
A sand-bagged City Hall in Kyiv, February 28, 2022. Keystone / Zurab Kurtsikidze

Switzerland is re-opening its embassy in Kyiv, with five staff members set to return to the Ukrainian capital, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The embassy was closed at the end of February, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to fears of the capital coming under prolonged shelling. Other countries also closed their representations at that time.

Almost three months later the foreign ministry said that an assessment had determined that the situation in Kyiv was now “secure enough” to warrant a re-opening. Five staff, including Ambassador Claude Wild, would return “over the next few days”.

Local staff will also continue to be employed. The ministry said that if the situation deteriorates and “an emergency arises”, the embassy staff will be prepared to leave again at short notice.

Priorities of the diplomatic staff over the next period – apart from humanitarian and development projects and good offices – will be coordinating with Ukrainian authorities ahead of the Ukraine Reform Conference to be held in the Swiss city of Lugano on July 4 and 5. This event had been planned since well before the war.

The foreign ministry said that representatives of more than 40 countries are now physically on site in Kyiv again.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR