The United States recognized the
independence of Ukraine on December 26, 1991, and opened an embassy in its capital, Kyiv, on January 22, 1992. This first embassy was located in the former regional office of the
Communist Party of Ukraine for Kyiv's
Shevchenkivskyi District that was confiscated from the Communists soon after the 1991
August putsch in Moscow. That building was erected sometime in the 1950s on the grounds of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on present day 10 Volodymyr Vynnychenko Street, destroyed by the Soviets in 1935. This was in the mold of other newly independent states in Eastern Europe, where former Communist Party offices were chosen as they were often cheap and expansive enough for the newly needed embassies. In 2012, the embassy moved to its current 4.5 hectare (11.1 acres) location, acquired for $247 million. The embassy is on Igor Sikorsky Street, close to Kyiv’s western outskirts, and 15 minutes walk from
Beresteiska station. Previously known as Tankova Street, the street was renamed by the City Council after Ukrainian-born aircraft design engineer
Igor Sikorsky, due to a request from the embassy. On June 8, 2017, a blast occurred outside the embassy. During the
prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the embassy moved to
Lviv, closer to the western border of the country with Poland, and adopted other security measures. As military buildup and tensions continued to rise, the embassy was relocated to Poland a couple days before
Russia launched a full-scale invasion. The embassy was reopened on May 18, 2022.
Picketing Since 2004, the embassy has been picketed annually on April 8 by the "Institute Republic" group of human rights activist
Volodymyr Chemerys, due to the refusal of the US government to pay compensation for the death of Ukrainian journalist
Taras Protsyuk, who perished in 2003 during the
Iraq War. == Staff ==