India, May 26 -- Tensions between Moscow and Washington reached a new flashpoint on Monday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explicitly urged the United States to evacuate its diplomatic personnel from Kyiv. The demand, delivered during a tense telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, comes amid a flurry of Russian threats to launch "systematic strikes" on the Ukrainian capital.

According to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the call was initiated to draw attention to a formal recommendation issued by Moscow on May 25. This directive advises the United States, along with other nations maintaining diplomatic missions in Kyiv, to pull their staff and citizens out of the city immediately....