US President Joe Biden called on American citizens to leave Ukraine because of the risk of a Russian “invasion”. He stated this in an interview with NBC.
“American citizens must leave now <…> We are not dealing with a terrorist organization. We are dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation, and the situation can quickly deteriorate,” Biden said.
When asked by the moderator under what scenario Biden could send American troops to rescue Americans in Ukraine, the president replied that there was no such scenario: if the armies of Russia and the United States start shooting at each other, it will be a world war.
The US State Department also issued a warning that the US “will not be able to evacuate US citizens in the event of Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine.”
On January 24, the US State Department ordered the families of employees of the US embassy in Kiev to leave Ukraine and allowed some of the diplomats to voluntarily leave the country. Washington explained this decision by the alleged threat of Russia’s invasion of the territory of the republic. After that, due to the “growing threat from Russia”, the UK and other countries began to take out part of the embassy staff in Kiev.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the US decision a premature step and a manifestation of excessive precaution. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko, noted that recently there have been no cardinal changes in the situation on the border between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Kremlin, have repeatedly stressed that the very idea of a war with Ukraine is unacceptable and the country is not going to attack anyone.
On February 10, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian authorities may recommend that non-essential employees of the embassy in Kiev return to their homeland for a while.