Against the backdrop of growing tensions in Ukraine, Russian President Putin and Biden will talk to each other later today (Sat). Putin requested that the talks take place on Monday, a White House source said, but Biden wanted to hold them earlier because of the growing evidence of an impending attack on Ukraine. Later in the day the two are expected to carry things.
The U.S. warned yesterday of a “significant possibility” of a Russian invasion of Ukraine in the coming days, and ordered all remaining Americans in the country to leave within the next 48 hours. At the same time, most U.S. embassy staff in Kiev were instructed to leave Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Germany is calling on its citizens to leave Ukraine because “a military confrontation cannot be ruled out.” During the day the British government informed its citizens who are on Ukrainian soil that they must leave because Russia may attack “without prior notice”. British forces training the Ukrainian army also began to leave during this weekend.
Russia has also begun evacuating diplomats
Russia has also decided to withdraw some diplomats from Ukraine, she said, due to “fear of provocations from Kiev and its allies.” In an interview with the TASS news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that “it is clear that this is due to the fact that our Western colleagues probably know something we do not know, or are organizing something.”
According to Rodenko, “Given this situation, we also reserve the right to take the necessary measures to ensure the security of our diplomats in Ukraine, as well as their protection against possible provocations of the Kiev regime or third countries.”
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after meeting with British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Trass that Russia might advise non-essential workers to leave diplomatic missions in Ukraine because it is not clear “what kind of ideas our Anglo-Saxon colleagues have”.
US President Joe Biden told NATO leaders yesterday that according to US estimates, Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, the Guardian reported. The invasion could occur in the coming days, even during the Winter Olympics.
In a statement to the US public, a White House spokesman said Russia could invade Ukraine in the coming days. In addition, the White House noted that Russia has enough forces to carry out a large-scale invasion. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan estimated that the invasion might begin with an air strike and also did not rule out the occupation of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs began evacuating the families of diplomats, workers and envoys in the country and returning them to Israel. At the same time, against the background of the publication of a travel warning to Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry recommends that Israeli citizens staying there consider staying in the country and in any case avoid approaching hotspots. The Ministry also recommends that Israeli citizens planning to come to Ukraine consider refraining from doing so at this time.
The Israeli Embassy in Kiev calls on citizens in Ukraine to register for evacuation at the following link: https://survey.gov.il/ru/israelinuk. To date, more than 4,000 Israelis have registered for evacuation.
Many Israelis are in Ukraine
Thousands of Israelis live in Ukraine, some of whom hold dual citizenship, some of whom work or are employed by high-tech companies, many of them in Kharkov, close to the border with Russia. The city has several branches of Israeli companies as well as programmers who work for other Israeli companies from service centers.
In these companies began to prepare for the possibility of cessation of activity of their employees in case of invasion. These include the Israeli gaming company Plarium and Playtica, Weeks and Faber. Outsourcing companies like Aman and Cyclom also have development centers in the eastern cities of Ukraine. Some companies have prepared plans to evacuate workers and their families to Kiev and from there out of the country if necessary.
Other companies have contacted airlines about checking rescue flights for programmers and their families and bringing them to Western Europe or Israel for an intermediate stay. At the same time, the companies are preparing for possible cyber attacks or for a power outage and the Internet that will shut down their activities.