<Anchor>



Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been going on for over two months.

Now, the Russian military is said to be holding a referendum for annexation in some areas, concentrating its firepower on eastern and southern Ukraine, but the mood in the distant capital Kiiu is different.

In some cases, embassies from different countries are returning to Kiiu one after another.

We connect reporters in neighboring countries of Ukraine.



Correspondent Jang Seon-i, the US embassy is also returning to Kiiu?



<Reporter>



Yes, embassies of various countries are returning to Kiiu as the Russian army, which had attempted to occupy the capital city, withdrew its troops.



The US embassy is also expected to return to Kiiu by the end of this month.



[Christina Kvien / Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine: The message to Russia is that you have failed.

Ukraine is still there, the government is still working, and we will first go back to Lviv, then to Kiiu.]



Our embassy has already returned to Kiiu from Chernivtsi, and Hungary also opened its embassy in Lviv last weekend. Moved to Kiiwu.



<Anchor>



You want the war to end just by looking at Kiiwu, but the situation in eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine is completely different, right?



<Reporter> The



Russian military is stepping up its offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine.



Yesterday (2nd), a 14-year-old boy was killed when a missile attacked a dormitory in the southern port city of Odessa.



Violent fighting resumed after some of the remaining civilians were evacuated from the Azoustal Works in southern Mariupol.



The US government predicted that Russia would annex the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine through a formal process called a referendum in the middle of this month.

[Michael Carpenter/US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: I think Russia



can hold a fake referendum to rationalize democracy or electoral legitimacy.]



There was also a report that he was wearing it, but the US Department of Defense said that the visit was correct, but it was not possible to confirm whether or not he was injured.



In the midst of this, Pope Francis announced that he had heard from the Hungarian Prime Minister that Russia was making plans to end the war on the 9th, the Victory Day.



(Video coverage: Lee Jae-young, Cho Seung-ho, video editing: Jung Yong-hwa)