Dozens of countries urging citizens to leave Ukraine amid threat of Russian invasion – list
Dozens of countries around the world have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine and cancel their trips to the country since Friday, Feb. 11, when Western media outlets reported that a further Russian military invasion of Ukraine could happen as early as Feb. 15-16.
As of Sunday, Feb. 13, 40 countries across the world had advised doing so, including:
- Australia
- Bahamas
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Palestine
- Poland
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
Additionally, a number of countries have announced their decision to reduce their diplomatic missions in Ukraine.
In particular, on Jan. 24, the U.S. Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of government employees and ordered family members of government employees to leave the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. The United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Canada and Israel then made a similar decision.
On Feb. 12, the U.S. Department of State ordered non-emergency diplomats to leave the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. After the departure of U.S. diplomats from Kyiv, the United States will leave a small consular presence in Lviv.
The German consulate for the eastern regions of Ukraine is relocating from Dnipro to Lviv.
Some members of the Russian diplomatic mission will also leave Ukraine.
At the same time, the European Union say that they are not closing their representative offices in Ukraine, or the embassies of member countries, and they continue to work normally.
Foreign media outlets and intelligence sources have reported a high risk of a further Russian invasion of Ukraine as Russia has amassed more than 130,000 troops on the Ukrainian borders since the end of Oct. 2021.
At the same time, the Russian government denies that is it planning an invasion, instead pointing to Kyiv’s alleged plans to return the Russian-occupied territories of Donbas by military means. They have no provided any evidence of these allegations, and Kyiv has repeatedly insisted that it sees diplomacy as the only way forward.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
