The European country also decided to “lower” the level of its diplomatic relations with the island’s regime.
MIAMI, United States. – Ukraine announced that it will close its embassy in Cuba and lower the level of its diplomatic relations with Havana, the Foreign Minister of the European country, Andriy Sybiha, reported this Wednesday in a message in X.
“We remember the Cuban president’s wish for ‘success’ for Putin in his war of aggression against Ukraine. We heard him well. This year we decided to close our embassy in Havana and lower the level of our diplomatic relations,” wrote the Ukrainian foreign minister.
The announcement came hours after the UN General Assembly approved, for the thirty-third year, the resolution calling for the end of the United States embargo against Cuba, with 165 votes in favor, seven against and 12 abstentions.
For the first time, Ukraine voted against the text. “Our vote was not directed against the Cuban people – we respect their right to live in prosperity – but against the inaction of the Havana authorities in the face of the massive recruitment of their citizens by the Russian occupation army,” Sybiha said.
Sybiha added that Havana’s “refusal to stop the massive deployment of its nationals in the Russian war against Ukraine constitutes complicity with aggression and must be condemned with the utmost firmness.”
On May 9, 2024, during a meeting in the Kremlin, Miguel Díaz-Canel express to Vladimir Putin: “We wish the Russian Federation success in the special military operation.”
The closure decision comes after a process of reducing the Ukrainian presence on the Island announced mid-yearwhen kyiv announced that it would reallocate resources to new delegations in Latin America—including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Uruguay—as part of a reconfiguration of its foreign network.
The Havana regime has officially denied any state involvement in the war in Ukraine, although has recognized criminal proceedings for mercenarism against citizens involved. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained in a recent statement that the country “is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine.”
The Cuban Embassy in kyiv remains “temporarily closed since March 14, 2022,” according to official information of the Cuban Government itself.
Sybiha did not detail the operational timeline for the closure or the transitional consular arrangements. Until the time of this publication, there was no specific statement from MINREX on the Ukrainian announcement. The measure, according to the head of kyiv diplomacywill apply “this year”.
(News under construction)
