The United Kingdom recognised the independence of Ukraine on 31 December 1991. Diplomatic relations were established on 10 January 1992. The United Kingdom opened a consulate-general in Kyiv in November 1991, then upgraded it to an embassy in January 1992.
The United Kingdom withdrew around half of all staff in the days following 24 January 2022 amid fears of a Russian invasion, according to a statement from the Foreign Office. This followed a similar slow withdrawal of Russian embassy staff and relatives of U.S. embassy staff leaving Ukraine.[2][3] On 20 April 2022, it was announced that the British Embassy in Kyiv would be reopening the following week.[4][5][6] During 2022, 350 Royal Marines from 45 Commando supported embassy diplomats in Ukraine.[7][8]
1 Diplomatic posts only with no consular facilities. 2 Consular posts only with no diplomatic functions. 3 The United Kingdom and His Majesty's Government do not recognise or have formal bilateral intergovernmental, diplomatic or consular relations with the (generally unrecognised) Government of the Republic of China in Taipei. Functions in Taiwan as an accredited informal and unofficial representative post and a semi-official informal consular post.