The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv as U.S. intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent, the Associated Press reports.
Unnamed U.S. officials were quoted by AP as saying that the State Department plans to announce early on February 12 that virtually all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave ahead of a feared Russian invasion.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said a small number of U.S. diplomats may be relocated to Ukraine’s far west, near the border with Poland, a NATO ally, so the U.S. could retain a diplomatic presence in the country.
Asked on February 12 during a trip to Fiji about the report, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would have more to say about the embassy in Kyiv in the coming hours.
SEE ALSO: Kremlin Says Putin To Hold Calls With Biden, Macron On February 12On January 24, the U.S. State Department ordered the families of diplomats working at the U.S. Embassy to leave Ukraine because of the threat of military action from Russia. But it had left it to the discretion of nonessential personnel if they wanted to depart.
The new move comes as Washington has escalated warnings of a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could happen at any moment.
A major military operation against Ukraine could begin "any day now,” even before the end of the Winter Olympics, White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said on February 11.
He urged all Americans to leave Ukraine right away to avoid a Russian invasion.
“We encourage all American citizens who remain in Ukraine to depart immediately," Sullivan said at a news briefing. “If you stay, you are assuming risk.”
Russia has denied that its buildup of more than 100,000 soldiers and military hardware in areas near the border with Ukraine is a prelude to a new invasion of the former Soviet republic.