MIAMI, United States. – Ukraine announced it will close its embassy in Cuba and downgrade the level of its diplomatic relations with Havana, according to a statement made Wednesday by the European country’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha, in a post on X.
“We recall the Cuban president’s wish for ‘success’ to Putin in his war of aggression against Ukraine. We heard it clearly. This year we decided to close our embassy in Havana and downgrade our diplomatic relations,” the Ukrainian foreign minister wrote.
The announcement came just hours after the United Nations General Assembly approved—for the 33rd consecutive year—the resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, with 165 votes in favor, seven against, and 12 abstentions.
For the first time, Ukraine voted against the resolution. “Our vote was not directed against the Cuban people—we respect their right to live in prosperity—but against the inaction of Havana’s authorities in the face of the mass recruitment of its citizens by the Russian occupation army,” Sybiha stated.
He added that “Havana’s refusal to stop the mass deployment of its nationals in Russia’s war against Ukraine constitutes complicity with the aggression and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Sybiha did not provide details on the timeline for the closure or any interim consular arrangements. As of the time of this publication, there had been no official statement from Cuba’s Foreign Ministry (MINREX) regarding Ukraine’s announcement. According to Kyiv’s top diplomat, the measure will be implemented “this year.”
Cuba’s embassy in Kyiv remains “temporarily closed since March 14, 2022,” according to official information from the Cuban government itself.
Havana Aligned with Moscow
On May 9, 2024, during a meeting at the Kremlin, Miguel Díaz-Canel told Vladimir Putin: “We wish the Russian Federation success in the special military operation.”
The decision to close the embassy follows a reduction in Ukraine’s presence on the Island announced in mid-2025, when Kyiv stated it would reallocate resources to new embassies in Latin America—including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay—as part of a broader restructuring of its foreign service network.
The Cuban regime has officially denied any state involvement in the war in Ukraine, although it has acknowledged criminal proceedings for mercenarism involving citizens recruited to fight. In a recent statement, the Cuban Foreign Ministry asserted that the country “is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine.”
However, in February 2025, Schemes, the investigative journalism unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Ukraine, documented the recruitment of Cuban nationals by the Russian Army. The investigation uncovered a recruitment network active on social media platforms like VKontakte, with possible training occurring in Russian military units, including the 106th Airborne Division in Tula, which participated in the Battle of Bakhmut.
Also in May 2025, the Cuban Resistance Assembly (ARC) denounced the mass participation of Cuban citizens in Russia’s war against Ukraine. In a press conference held in Miami, Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat presented data from a recent statement by Ukrainian military intelligence reporting the presence of between 6,000 and 7,000 Cuban fighters currently on Russian soil.
Speaking virtually from Kyiv, Ukrainian MP Maryan Zablotskyy stated that Cubans make up the second-largest foreign fighting contingent in the war, after North Korea. According to his remarks, around 20,000 Cubans aged between 20 and 60 have been mobilized by Russia for military purposes.
“There are Cubans [in Ukraine] from Pinar del Río to Oriente. Some die quickly,” warned Zablotskyy.
Havana vs. Kyiv
The Cuban government has consistently voted against or abstained from United Nations General Assembly resolutions that criticize the Kremlin’s actions and remains, to this day, one of Russia’s closest political allies on the international stage.
In April 2025, Havana abstained from voting on a resolution reaffirming cooperation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe, which made explicit reference to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The document, listed as Resolution A/79/L.75, was adopted on Wednesday, April 16 by 105 member states of the General Assembly.
The text was presented byLuxembourg and Lithuania and, among other points, acknowledged “the unprecedented challenges currently facing Europe following the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and previously against Georgia.” It also referred to the need to “rapidly restore and maintain peace and security based on respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of any State.”
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Cuban government has maintained a position aligned with Moscow, voting against or abstaining on resolutions condemning the invasion.
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