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The U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine /REUTERS. The U.S. suspended consular services in Kyiv and ordered most embassy staff to depart after warn...
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| The U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine /REUTERS. |
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said Saturday that it has ordered the departure of most direct-hire employees from Ukraine because of the growing threat of invasion. The embassy said it would operate limited consular services out of the western city of Lviv.
Nearly 200 diplomats are expected to leave the embassy. Nonessential personnel and the families of U.S. diplomats had been ordered to leave last month.
“Despite a prudent reduction in our diplomatic staff, our core embassy team will remain in Ukraine with our many dedicated Ukrainian colleagues, the Department of State, USAID and other U.S. personnel across the world,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement.
The White House approved a Pentagon plan for U.S. troops in Poland to help thousands of Americans likely to flee Ukraine if Russia attacks, as the Biden administration tries to avoid an evacuation similar to its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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| A Ukrainian service man taking part in combat training in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine / AP. |
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Moscow has decided on a “certain optimization” of staffing at the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and its consulates in Kharkiv, Odessa and Lviv because it feared “certain provocations by the Kyiv regime or third nations.” She said consular services will continue. A security guard outside the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and residents of nearby buildings said Saturday that they haven’t seen any signs of evacuation so far.
The White House warned on Saturday that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time with major military action and urged Americans to leave the country by Sunday. Russia, which has massed some 130,000 troops along Ukrainian borders in recent weeks, has repeatedly denied that it seeks to invade. President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are slated to discuss the crisis later on Saturday.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry on Saturday said the country is ready for any scenario.
“At this moment, it is critically important to retain calm, consolidate inside the country, and avoid actions that undermine stability and sow panic,” it said in a statement.
Other Western embassies are also pulling out staff from the Ukrainian capital, with some of them setting up satellite headquarters in the city of Lviv near the Polish border, seen as relatively secure even if Russia invades, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday said “we’ve been continuing to focus on our embassy” in Kyiv and that the department would provide more information in the coming hours. “We continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving around Ukraine’s borders,” he said following a meeting with Fijian acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
He said that would speak later Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and that he would continue to make the case for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. “But it must take place in the context of de-escalation,” Mr. Blinken said. “So far, we’ve only seen escalation from Moscow. This is a pivotal moment. We’re prepared for whatever should happen.”
Hotels in Lviv are already packed with foreign embassy staff and contractors. Many international organizations and companies operating in Ukraine have set the evacuation of the Russian Embassy as a trigger event for their own departure.
The State Department last month ordered the departure of all family members of employees at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, while authorizing departure for certain embassy employees. At the time, a senior State Department official said the moves were “prudent precautions taken for the sake of the safety of U.S. citizens and government personnel, and they in no way undermine our support for or our commitment to Ukraine.”
The secretary said he had spoken recently with several of his counterparts, including Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. He was scheduled to speak later in the day with U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
“We have a remarkable level of unity and common purpose,” Mr. Blinken said. “We and our allies have made this crystal clear to Moscow: If President Putin decides to take military action, we will swiftly impose severe economic sanctions. The coordination with allies and partners around the globe will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. We will reinforce our allies on the eastern flank of NATO.”