Qatari Embassy Damaged In Russian Drone Strike, Doha Shrugs

We earlier detailed yet another massive overnight Russian strike on Ukraine – including on the capital and the Western city of Lviv, the latter which was hit with a nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missile.

More details have emerged Friday as emergency crews assess the damage in Kiev. Notably the Embassy of Qatar in Kyiv appears to have been directly hit, likely by a drone, or else possibly from missile debris.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was the first to announce and confirm that the embassy suffered damage, though without casualties to diplomatic staff or personnel. 

Sybiha blasted the Russian attack as a ”clear violation of the Vienna Convention” and said Moscow’s “brutality” is without bounds, and offered the Zelensky government’s full support for Qatar. 

Alongside this, Sybiha once again called on NATO to urgently step up support:

“Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X.

“It is absurd that Russia attempts to justify this strike with the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened,” he added.

“Putin uses an IRBM near EU and NATO border in response to his own hallucinations – this is truly a global threat. And it demands global responses.”

As for the Qatari embassy, President Zelensky said on Telegram Friday, “In addition to our civilian infrastructure and energy facilities, a building of the Embassy of Qatar was damaged last night by a Russian drone.”

This after hundreds of drones and missiles pummeled the country overnight, leaving at least four dead.

More interesting has been Qatar’s incredibly meek and muted reaction, a sign that it doesn’t want to damage its important and delicate relations with Moscow. It has long sought to present itself as ‘mediator’ between the warring sides as well. 

“The State of Qatar expressed today deep regret over the damage sustained by its embassy building in Ukraine as a result of the shelling of the capital Kyiv last night, affirming that no diplomats or embassy staff were harmed,” per Qatari media.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed in a statement today the importance of sparing embassies, diplomatic missions, headquarters of international organization and civilian facilities from the repercussions of crises, and to protect its members in line with international law,” it added.

This quite muted response quickly transitioned to calling for peace in Ukraine, offering to mediate efforts and international diplomatic action to resolve the conflict peacefully. Clearly Qatar is more concerned with not causing Russia any offensive whatsoever at this delicate moment.