US diplomat found dead in Kiev – media

An attache to the American embassy in Ukraine has been found dead in a room at Kiev’s Hilton Hotel, according to several Ukrainian news outlets.

The online portal Strana UA reported the discovery on Wednesday, citing a law enforcement source. This was followed by the outlet New Voices.

“Yesterday around 11am the body of an attache at the US embassy was found inside a room at the hotel,” Strana quoted its source as saying. “There were no signs of violence on the body.”

According to Strana’s source, the man, who had arrived in Ukraine on June 15, had shown elevated cholesterol levels in medical records provided by the US embassy. Local police have reportedly launched an investigation into the cause and circumstances of the diplomat’s death.

New Voices reported that the hotel room where the body was discovered had been locked from the inside and that no autopsy was performed, as the corpse was claimed by the US embassy.

Neither the US embassy nor the State Department has commented on Ukrainian media reports.

The US embassy in Kiev employs between 100-200 diplomats and military personnel, Foreign Policy magazine reported in March, describing it as “overstretched and understaffed” for dealing with the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

According to four anonymous sources, the State Department was planning to send up to 40 additional diplomats to Kiev to make it easier for Ambassador Bridget Brink and her deputies to travel around Ukraine.

Washington is one of Ukraine’s main backers in the conflict with Russia, supplying Kiev with billions of dollars in cash, weapons, ammunition and equipment. The US and its allies have insisted that this does not make them a party to the conflict, however, ignoring Moscow’s repeated warnings to the contrary.