PARIS — France is moving its embassy in Ukraine back to Kyiv from the western city of Lviv after Russian troops pulled away from regions around the capital and have concentrated on embattled eastern Ukraine.

The French Foreign Ministry announced the move Thursday after Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, about French military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. A date for the move was not announced.

France had maintained its embassy in Kyiv at the outset of the war, but it moved its operations to Lviv last month. France sent a new convoy of fire trucks, ambulance and emergency equipment to Ukraine on Thursday, and a team of French investigators arrived this week to gather evidence of war crimes.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Western countries’ attempts to phase out Russian gas imports will have a negative impact on their economies.

Putin said Thursday that European attempts to find alternatives to Russian gas shipments will be “quite painful for the initiators of such policies.”

He argued that “there is simply no reasonable replacement for it in Europe now.”

Putin said that “supplies from other countries that could be sent to Europe, primarily from the United States, would cost consumers many times more.” He added they could “affect people’s standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy.”

The European Union depends on Russia for 40 percent of its natural gas and 25 percent of its oil.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke Thursday by phone about securing an additional $800 million to assist Ukraine’s defense in the war with Russia, federal officials said.

The additional funding would help Ukraine amass “weapons, ammunition and other security assistance,” according to Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department.

Blinken reinforced to Kuleba the U.S. government’s “steadfast commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We are resolved to continue to provide security, economic, and humanitarian support to the government and people of Ukraine as they defend against President Putin’s brutal and unprovoked war,” Price said in a statement.

Blinken and Kuleba also said the assistance from the U.S. government and allies has been “instrumental” in Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces, Price said.

Blinken “commended the bravery of the Ukrainian people, noting in particular those defending Mariupol,” Price said.

Russian news reports say a criminal case has been opened against a Siberian journalist whose news website had published content critical of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

Security forces on Wednesday arrested Mikhail Afanasyev, the chief editor of Novy Fokus in the Russian region of Khakassia, over the website’s reporting on 11 riot police who had allegedly refused deployment to Ukraine as part of Russia’s military action.

Afanasyev was accused Thursday of disseminating “deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces, an offense that carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence under a law passed early last month.

Another Siberia-based journalist was also arrested Wednesday on suspicion of breaching Russia’s new laws about the media coverage of the situation in Ukraine. Sergei Mikhailov, the founder of the LIStok weekly newspaper based in the Altai republic of western Siberia, was reportedly placed in pre-trial detention over the newspaper’s alleged “calls for sanctions against Russia.”

GENEVA — The international Red Cross says it’s rolling out its largest-ever cash assistance program to help more than 2 million people in Ukraine and those who have fled abroad cope with the fallout from Russia’s invasion.

Nicole Robicheau, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Thursday that the organization plans to distribute “well over 100 million” Swiss francs — about $106 million — to people affected by Russia’s seven-week war in Ukraine.

Humanitarian groups like the Red Cross have recently touted the effectiveness of cash assistance programs for people in places hit by events like natural disasters, drought, famine and conflict as a way to “allow people to decide what they need” and “put money back into the local economy,” Robicheau said by phone.

The program aims to help 360,000 people in Ukraine and many more in countries of refuge.

The international Red Cross says it and national Red Cross organizations have helped over 1 million people with items like blankets, food, mats and kitchen equipment.

As some normalcy returns to Kyiv, Uber is restoring service in the city.

Uber said Thursday that city authorities gave approval for the company to resume operation. Uber also said it is waiving service charges on drivers and will donate 10,000 trips to city government employees and emergency workers.

Uber is still operating in other major Ukrainian cities, including Lviv.

MAKARIV, Ukraine — Hanna Polyvach cried as she looked at the burned out wreckage of the kindergarten she used to run in the town of Makariv, about 30 miles west of Kyiv. 

She said that a Russian aerial bombardment on March 7 gutted one building, razed adjacent classrooms and blew up the playground. 

“Birds used to sing here, there were flowers in the garden, on every playground. There was such a paradise here,” Polyvach said Wednesday as she looked at the bombed out school. It was built by hand by local residents and teachers 53 years ago, she added, “and everything was destroyed in one day." 

But the community and staff are determined to rebuild. 

“We are beginning to rebuild tomorrow,” Polyvach said. “Volunteers and our staff are coming and we will start rebuilding everything. Everything has to be rebuilt.”

Russian President Putin spoke with senior energy officials on Thursday, emphasizing that his country will continue to avoid using dollars or euros in sales of oil and gas.

He added that Russian energy companies are responsible players in the world market and warned against further attempts for Western countries to replace Russian oil with alternatives. "This will have consequences for the world economy and the consequences of such steps can be very painful," Putin said.