Italian Ambassador Pier Francesco Zazo has returned to Kyiv to reopen the country’s embassy, Italy said Friday, joining a host of nations to return to the Ukrainian capital after Russia abandoned its effort to capture the city.
Italy had moved its diplomatic operation to Poland in March.
The embassy will be fully operational from Monday, said Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. “It is the symbol of an Italy that wastes no time, never stops believing in diplomacy and persistently seeks peace,” he said.
French diplomats will also return to Kyiv, shifting the embassy back to the capital from Lviv, the western Ukrainian city where it has been based since early March, the French Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Countries that have reestablished a diplomatic presence in Kyiv include Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Turkey, as well as officials representing the European Union.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv will remain closed for the foreseeable future and the U.S.’s diplomatic presence in Ukraine will be reestablished only when it is safe to do so, a State Department spokesman said Thursday.