United Kingdom will reopen embassy in Kyiv

The United kingdom is planning to reopen its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, after a shutdown following Russia's initial invasion of the country that target the capital city.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement Friday during a visit to India. 

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in a statement: "The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv. I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the embassy team and their work throughout this period." 

The U.K. moved in February moved its embassy operations to Lviv, a western Ukrainian city largely spared attacks during the now, roughly eight-week invasion.

Johnson is one of a small number of European leaders who have traveled to Ukraine since the start of the invasion, nearly 60 days ago.

More than a dozen countries shave recently announced plans to reopen their embassies in Kyiv, including such European nations as France, Italy, Poland and Spain.

The Biden administration since Russian forces recently retreated from Kyiv has been under pressure from U.S. lawmakers, former diplomats and others to reopen the U.S. Embassy in that city.

Russia has repeatedly failed to seize control of Kyiv, facing a stronger-than-expected resistance from the Ukrainian army.

The Russian military has now been commanded to pivot its sights toward Donbas and the southern parts of the country. The Donbas region, which is in the east, has a significant pro-Russian separatist population, where conflict has been recurrent since Russia's 2014 invasion. 

Russia also recently declared its operation in the port city of Mariupol a "success."

Troops have been told to hold back from targeting the final group of Ukrainian resistance soldiers in Mariupol. Control of Mariupol would mean that Russia could connect via land bridge the city with the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.