On Sunday, the State Department instructed the families of all US embassy staff in Ukraine to leave the country in the face of heightened fears of a Russian invasion.
The department told U.S. embassy staff in Kiev that they should leave the country. It was also reported that technical staff at the embassy could leave Ukraine at government expense.
The move comes amid growing tensions over the escalation of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, which was not eased during talks between Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, the department said.
Foreign Ministry officials insisted that the Kiev embassy remain open and that the announcement was not an eviction. The move has been under consideration for some time and does not reflect a decline in US support for Ukraine, officials said.
The State Department has again issued a travel recommendation that Americans should not travel to Russia. We read that “US citizens are strongly encouraged to travel by land from Russia to Ukraine via this region.”
On Sunday, the State Department instructed the families of all US embassy staff in Ukraine to leave the country in the face of heightened fears of a Russian invasion.
The move comes amid growing tensions over the escalation of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, which was not eased during talks between Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, the department said.
Foreign officials have insisted that the Kiev embassy remain open.
“The second bird in Kiev! More than 80 tons of weapons to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities from our friends in the United States! This is not the end” – wrote Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Resnikov on Twitter. A cargo plane loaded with cargo.
On the night of January 22, as part of additional security assistance to Ukraine, the first tranche of US military aid arrived in Kiev, valued at $ 200 million.
The U.S. embassy in Kiev tweeted on Friday evening that the payload would “include nearly 200,000 military aid, including ammunition for Ukraine’s front line guards.”
Antony Blinken – Reuters writes – strengthened his opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying in an interview with CNN that Russian forces crossing the Ukrainian border would elicit a positive response from the United States and its allies.
According to CNN, the defense ministry is implementing a plan to strengthen the US naval presence in Eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine, following an order from President Joe Biden.
On Sunday, Blinken backed the administration’s reluctance to impose additional sanctions on Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United States and its allies to punish Moscow for establishing military units on the Ukrainian border.
“As far as sanctions are concerned, their aim is to stop the Russian occupation,” he said. – So if they run now, we will lose the blocking effect. “Everything we do with Europe has a huge impact on Russia, which aims to take into account President (Vladimir) Putin, prevent him and encourage aggression,” he said.
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