The Farnesina invites all Italians to Ukraine to return "as a precaution".
While on the ground the tension is getting higher, after an extraordinary meeting of the Crisis Unit entirely dedicated to the Russian threat on the borders of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announces the decisions taken.
The approximately two thousand Italians who live in the country, most of them in the capital Kiev, are invited to get on a commercial plane and return home as soon as possible.
Those in Italy, "considering the situation of uncertainty at the borders", are instead asked to "postpone all non-essential trips to Ukraine", in particular those "for any reason in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and in Crimea" , which are "not recommended".
Diplomatic terms to underline the danger of traveling in a particularly delicate moment.
But not only: "Another provision taken - added Di Maio - is to bring back all the non-essential staff of our diplomatic office in Kiev".
A decision that does not imply the closure of the embassy, assured the minister, which "remains fully operational".
So much so that the
The escalation at the borders of Ukraine, moreover, has pushed all the main Western chancelleries to recall their compatriots.
Even if the goal is and remains the de-escalation, in a day full of tension but also of diplomatic contacts.
"We are all working to avoid an escalation", Di Maio assured, underlining that "a diplomatic solution is being sought and we hope that tangible signals can arrive as soon as possible".
