The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv amid reports of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, reported.
Associated Press citing US officials. This comes after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned about the continued sign of Russian escalation with more troops arriving at the Ukrainian border. Sullivan said that the invasion could begin at “any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.”
Without commenting on the details of the intelligence received, the NSA said the invasion “could begin during the Olympics, despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after the Olympics.”
According to the AP report, US officials have said that the state department plans to announce the evacuation of the American embassy in Kyiv by early Saturday.
The department has already ordered families of US embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave while leaving it to the discretion of nonessential personnel if they wanted to depart.
The US officials, quoted by AP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak on the matter publicly, said a limited number of American diplomats may be relocated to Ukraine’s far west, near the border with Poland, in a bid to retain a diplomatic presence in the country.
The US said it is ready to continue results-oriented diplomacy that addresses the security concerns and also ready to respond decisively, alongside allies, if Russia chooses to take military action.
“Our response would include severe economic sanctions, with similar packages imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries. It would also include changes to Nato and American force posture along the eastern flank of Nato,” Sullivan said.