Claim of Russian embassy staff being evacuated from Israel

Russia is evacuating its diplomatic staff and their family members from Israel on an “urgent basis,” two Ukrainian-based media outlets have claimed.

The report said that three flights have been operated for this purpose in the last 24 hours, which has sparked renewed discussions.

Popular Ukrainian media outlets Kyiv Post and Ukrainian National News (UNN) reported that Russia is rapidly carrying out this evacuation process. They claimed that such activity suggests that Moscow may have some “important or sensitive information.”

Citing Daily Iran News, Kyiv Post and UNN reported on Thursday (January 8) that Russian embassy staff and their family members in Israel are being urgently evacuated to Russia.

UNN reported that this was the third flight in the last 24 hours through which Russia is evacuating its diplomatic staff. The report also noted that the entire process is being carried out in a well-organized and rapid manner.

However, these claims have not been independently verified. Neither Russia nor Israel has officially commented on the matter.

The Kyiv Post reported that the evacuation of Russian embassy staff and their families from Israel is believed to have begun on Tuesday (January 6). Although the report also acknowledged that there was little solid evidence to support this claim.

The report also said that this information was based on flight tracking data. However, the matter could not be confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry or any other official source at the time of publication.

It is known that the Daily Iran News, a channel of the social media X that monitors the situation in the Middle East, first made the claim on Wednesday. They published a screenshot of the flight tracking site ‘ADS-B Exchange’ and said that this was the third flight to evacuate the Russian embassy in Israel in the past 24 hours.

However, no official channel of the Russian Embassy in Israel or the Russian Foreign Ministry has made any such announcement. Similarly, no information has been confirmed by Russia or major international media outlets so far.