A strong explosion in a building near the Mexican Embassy in Ukraine has prevented the access of the ambassador, Olga García, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this Friday. The Mexican representative has been forced to continue her work from her official residence in Kiev. The information is released amid an intensifying battle between Russian and Ukrainian troops for control of the capital of the European country.

“Our ambassador Olga García from Kiev informs me that they did not allow her to access our Embassy because there was an explosion in an adjoining building,” Marcelo Ebrard , head of Foreign Relations, wrote on his social networks. “I recognize her extraordinary courage to continue supporting Mexicans in Ukraine,” he added. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told this newspaper that there is no further information, but that the situation is “complicated”, especially due to the difficulties in gaining access.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed a few hours ago the arrival of Russian troops on the outskirts of Kiev . The international press has reported fighting in the Obolon district, about nine kilometers from the capital. The special envoys of EL PAÍS have witnessed an armed clash about three kilometers from the seat of Parliament. Mexicans still in Kiev have said that in recent hours they have heard shots and sirens, and that they have been asked to take refuge in subway stations, although the tension is intermittent and they have been able to return to their homes.

The Mexican Embassy is on the 15th floor of the Carnegie Center, one of the tallest buildings in Ukraine. The skyscraper is more than 160 meters high and has 47 floors, and is for residential and commercial use. The legation is near the Klovska metro station, in the Pechersk district, considered the political core of Kiev and one of its main business centers. The Parliament and several government offices are in that area, in the center of the city.

Unlike other Western countries, Mexico decided to maintain its diplomatic representation in the capital. The United States, for example, closed its embassy in Kiev in mid-February and ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel. The American legation was transferred to the city of Lviv, about 550 kilometers from the capital in a westerly direction, near the Polish border.

The representation of Mexico has counted just over 200 nationals in Ukrainian territory. About 50 requested support to leave the country. For more than a week, a group of thirty people was transferred to the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, in the western fringe of Ukraine, as a strategic point to leave the country and be near the border with Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. .

Ebrard has indicated that a bus with twenty Mexicans who were in Ivano-Frankivsk is already on its way to Romania. This is the first group of nationals who have been evacuated by the Embassy. “Guillermo Ordorica, our ambassador to Romania, informs me that he is already in Siret, on the border with Ukraine, to wait and support the first 22 Mexicans who will arrive with the support of the protection protocol,” said the foreign minister.

Marius Lazurca, the Romanian ambassador in Mexico, has affirmed that the doors of his country are open. “The Romanian government is working to welcome people of all nationalities fleeing this unjust and immoral war,” he commented. There will be a special flight of the Mexican Air Force to Romania to facilitate the repatriation of nationals who ask to return to the country, the Foreign Ministry has announced.

Mexico raised the tone and has explicitly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We are very clear that we are facing an invasion, there is no longer any doubt about it,” Ebrard said in a recorded message on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry has ruled out a break in relations with Moscow, but has advanced that it will maintain its position of rejecting the Russian offensive at the United Nations Security Council session, in which it participates as a non-permanent member, scheduled for this Friday.