US warns war may be days away
Nato allies urge citizens to leave Ukraine
The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent.
US officials said the State Department plans to announce today that all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave the country ahead of a feared invasion.
The State Department would not comment.
The department had earlier ordered families of US embassy staffers in the capital to leave.
The move comes as Washington yesterday escalated dire warnings of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as emergency diplomatic efforts continued.
Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3000 US troops to Poland to reassure allies.
As diplomatic options for averting war in Ukraine appeared to narrow, the White House said President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss the crisis by phone today.
Biden has said the US military will not enter a war in Ukraine, but he has promised severe economic sanctions against Moscow, in concert with international allies.
Timing of possible Russian military action remains a key question.
The US picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at a target date this week, according to a US official familiar with the findings.
Officials said anew that Russia’s build-up of offensive air, land and sea firepower near Ukraine has reached the point where it could invade on short notice.
Biden’s national security adviser,
Jake Sullivan, urged all Americans in Ukraine to leave within the next 48 hours.
Several Nato allies including Britain, Canada, Norway and Denmark also are asking their citizens to leave Ukraine.
Sullivan said the scale of an invasion could range from a limited incursion to a strike on Kyiv.
Russia scoffed at the US talk of urgency.
“The hysteria of the White House is more indicative than ever,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“The AngloSaxons need a war. At any cost. Provocations, misinformation and threats are a favorite method of solving their own problems.”
In addition to the more than 100,000 ground troops that US officials say Russia has assembled along Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, the Russians have deployed missile, air, naval and special operations forces, as well as supplies to sustain a war.
This week Russia moved six amphibious assault ships into the Black Sea.
Sullivan said the combination of a further Russian troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders and unspecified intelligence indicators have prompted the administration to warn that war could begin any time.
“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but that is a very, very distinct possibility,” he said.