Ukraine crisis: US closes Kyiv embassy amid fears of Russian invasion
- Operations relocated to the western city of Lviv out of concern for the safety of staff
- The US has warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent
Warning of “dramatic acceleration in the build-up of Russian forces” on Ukraine’s border, the United States on Monday announced it was closing its embassy in the capital city of Kyiv out of fear for the safety of its diplomats.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he’d been told that Russia would invade on Wednesday, a quip his office later said was meant sarcastically, reflecting what some in Kyiv think is a breathlessness on the part of members of the Biden administration who have warned of an imminent Russian attack.
Washington and most European capitals, as evidence of a looming invasion, point to Moscow’s amassing of more than 130,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and in its ally, Belarus, which sits on Ukraine’s northern border, just a two-hour drive from Kyiv. There is disagreement, however, on how soon such an action might take place.
The White House and State Department on Monday reiterated the US contention that Russia has shown no evidence of de-escalating, as Nato members are demanding.
“What we are seeing on the ground with our own eyes (indicates) it could begin at any time,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
As a consequence, the State Department, which had already begun withdrawing personnel from the besieged former Soviet republic, on Monday said it was “relocating” all embassy functions to Lviv, a city hundreds of kilometres west of Kyiv near the border with Poland.