Tension in Ukraine as US Announces Imminent Russian Strike
By Lawan Bukar Maigana, with agency reports
A Russian state-owned news agency reported Saturday that employees at the Kremlin’s diplomatic missions have begun to leave Ukraine.
RIA Novosti, citing an unidentified “informed source,” said Moscow was joining the growing international exodus of the embassy and consular staff amid the growing warnings.
US President, Joe Biden, has said that Moscow could imminently mount a renewed invasion of Ukraine, urging all Americans to leave the troubled country.
The medium accused the West of hysteria and spreading disinformation even as Russian forces continue to hold major exercises near Kyiv’s borders.
The Associated Press reported late Friday, citing unidentified officials, that the United States plans to announce Saturday it will evacuate its embassy in Kyiv.
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The State Department and the embassy did not immediately return requests for comment. The families of U.S. diplomats in the Ukrainian capital were told to leave earlier this year.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser cautioned Friday that there is a “very distinct possibility” that Russia will invade Ukraine in a “reasonably swift time frame” and urged all U.S. citizens there to leave immediately.
Sullivan could not confirm that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had made a final decision to attack, but he said that military action could begin “any day.”
James Heappey, a junior British defense minister said Saturday that U.K. military trainers in Ukraine would leave over the weekend told the Sky News: “There will be no British troops in Ukraine if there is any conflict with Russia.”
Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to call his Russian counterpart on Saturday morning in a final effort to convince him not to strike.
