US Orders Embassy Families To Leave Ukraine As War Nears
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV (Worthy News) – The U.S State Department has ordered families of U.S. embassy personnel in Ukraine to begin evacuating the country as soon as Monday amid concerns about a possible war with Russia, officials said Saturday.
Next week, the State Department is also expected to encourage Americans to begin leaving Ukraine by commercial flights “while those are still available.”
Germany also prepares to evacuate its embassy personnel and family members if tensions rise further, Germany’s Bildt newspaper reported.
The evacuations come as Russia has massed as many as 127,000 troops at the border with Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment, leading to fears of an invasion.
Late Friday night, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine announced the first shipment of ammunition had arrived as directed by President Biden. The president approved a $200 million security package in December.
U.S. officials say small arms ammunition constitute the bulk of the 200,000 pounds of what the State Department calls “lethal aid.”
The U.S. embassy in Kyiv, the capital, stressed that the deliveries are needed to support Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines. U.S. officials also say Javelin anti-tank missiles will arrive early next week from the Baltic states and U.S. military stockpiles.
Additionally, a U.S. security official told Worthy News that tens of thousands of American forces are on high alert in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Baltics in case the conflict spills over.
It comes amid reports that Russian fighter jets have now arrived in Belarus, a close ally of Russia, north of Ukraine. The Pentagon is reportedly concerned that Ukraine’s capital is “now in the crosshairs.”
The West has rejected Moscow’s main demands – promises from the NATO military alliance that Ukraine will never be added as a member. Additionally, the alliance has not committed itself to Russian demands that no alliance weapons will be deployed near Russian borders and that it will pull back its forces from Central and Eastern Europe.
Talks between U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, Switzerland, yielded no breakthroughs. However, both sides agreed to continue negotiating diplomatically.
The two diplomats will speak again after the U.S. submits a formal response to Russian demands next week, both sides suggested.
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