IRELAND HAS REOPENED its embassy in Kyiv after six months of remote operations due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Irish embassy, which only opened in the Ukrainian capital for the first time in 2021, will be functioning with “very limited capacity” to provide any in-person consular assistance. 

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that the team’s “key priority” will be “renewing and building their network of contacts with Ukrainian government officials to better inform Ireland’s provision of support and assistance to the government and people of Ukraine”.

The diplomatic mission had been operating remotely from Dublin and Poland.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is continuing to advise against all travel to Ukraine and for Irish citizens to leave Ukraine if they can do so safely.

The Irish embassy in Kyiv had been operational for less than a year when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, prompting Ireland to pull out its diplomats along with other countries that either relocated or departed entirely.

Many countries have since re-established their diplomatic presence in Kyiv, including the United States, which relocated to Lviv in neighbouring Poland in February but returned to its base in May.

Ireland’s embassy initially opened on 7 June 2021, with Ambassador Therese Healy, Ireland’s first resident ambassador to Ukraine, presenting credentials to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 19 August. Healy previously served on Irish missions in China, Russia, and Japan.

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Minister Coveney formally opened the embassy four days later on a visit to Ukraine.

During that trip, he also met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss Crimea and eastern Ukraine, as well as Covid-19 and Ireland’s membership of the United Nations Security Council.