Report: US will start evacuating families of diplomats from Ukraine
U.S. officials told Fox Network that Washington is also expected to encourage U.S. citizens to leave the country on commercial flights, "as long as they are available."
The United States fears that Kiev is "on target" by Putin, who sent fighter jets to Belarus, and arms shipments to Ukraine will intensify in the coming days
Guy Elster
22/01/2022
Saturday, 22 January 2022, 18:10 Updated: 18:25
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A soldier of the Ukrainian army on the front line in the Donetsk Oblast, January 21, 2022 (Photo: Reuters)
The United States will begin evacuating family members of embassy staff in Ukraine amid fears of an imminent invasion of Russia, U.S. officials told Fox News today (Saturday).
Sources said the evacuation of the families of the representatives should begin on Monday.
One source said the State Department in Washington is expected to encourage next week U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine on commercial flights, "while those are still available."
The report comes after talks held in Geneva yesterday between US and Russian foreign ministers did not yield a breakthrough, although the parties agreed to continue a dialogue aimed at preventing a new conflict in Eastern Europe.
Moscow demands from NATO to ensure that it does not join Ukraine, in addition to withdrawing forces from Romania and Bulgaria. The Alliance rejects these demands outright.
Due to fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin may decide at any moment on another invasion of Ukraine, from which he annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, the United States and several other European countries have stepped up arms shipments to Kiev. The United States Embassy in the country announced overnight the first shipment of ammunition to the country, following a decision by President Joe Biden.
Most of the weapons, defensive in nature, include ammunition and anti-tank missiles of the Javelin model. The missiles will be supplied to Ukraine by the Baltic states, with the approval of Washington, and from the US military bases. Of the Kremlin, including Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
Russia's possible offensive, which has concentrated more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders in recent months, could emerge from neighboring Belarus.
The two countries, which have tightened their cooperation in the past year following the huge protests against Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko, last week announced a joint surprise exercise.
As part of this, Moscow sent thousands of troops air defense systems as well as fighter jets.
The Fox network reported that the Pentagon fears that with the deployment of Russia's Air Force in Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the south, the capital Kiev is "on the sights" of Moscow.
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