You're reading: New US Embassy in Kyiv will have official opening ceremony on Feb. 29

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft and U.S. Department of State Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy will preside over a ceremony Feb. 29 at 3:30 p.m. to officially open the new U.S. Embassy at 4 Aircraft Designer Igor Sikorsky Street (formerly Tankova). Special guests who will also address the gathering include Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodomyr Lytvyn, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, and Heather Townsend, deputy director of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations.

Guests at the event will include government of Ukraine and Kyiv city officials, other senior political figures, the diplomatic corps, and artists who have helped celebrate the 20th anniversary of U.S.-Ukrainian bilateral relations or whose works are displayed in the new embassy. The event will consist of remarks, national anthems, a flag ceremony by U.S. Marine security guards, a ribbon cutting, the unveiling of the official embassy plaque, and a champagne toast.

Background

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv moved to its new location Jan. 17-20 and has been operating from this location since Jan. 23. Former U.S. Embassy offices at 10 Yuriy Kotsubinsky and 4 Hlybochytska have been closed. A second phase to the move will take place later in the year when U.S. Agencty for International Development moves to its new building on the U.S. Embassy compound on Sikorsky Street. Details of this move will be announced at a future time. For the present, USAID will continue to operate out of its current offices at 19 Nizhniy Val. The artwork on display in the new U.S. Embassy includes a great number of works by both U.S. and Ukrainian artists, including Oksana Mas and Tamara Babak. The art is curated by the U.S. “Art in Embassies” program and includes pieces that were commissioned, purchased, borrowed, and donated. The mix of Ukrainian and U.S. art here is symbolic of the close ties between the Ukrainian and American people.