“Our embassy operated regularly today until 3pm local time and, in the meantime, we took the decision that it would not open tomorrow, and possibly not in the next few days, with a permanent assessment of the situation. Therefore, there is a closure, but a temporary closure”, said Paulo Rangel, speaking to journalists in São Paulo, on the sidelines of a visit with the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, to Casa de Portugal.

The minister stressed that “you cannot create the idea” that Portugal is removing people from Kyiv, highlighting that these temporary closures happened “dozens, if not hundreds of times” over the thousand days of the war in Ukraine.