EU ambassador to Ukraine says European embassies will stay in Kyiv
All EU embassies located in Kyiv will continue to work in the capital, head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said after a meeting on Feb. 14 between EU ambassadors and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Maasikas also expressed full support for Ukraine amid military, economic and psychological pressure from Russia.
Since Friday, February 11, when foreign media outlets reported that a further Russian military invasion of Ukraine could happen as early as February 15-16, dozens of countries around the world have called on their citizens to leave Ukraine and cancel their trips to the country.
Additionally, a number of countries announced a reduction of the staff levels at their diplomatic missions in Ukraine.
Earlier, it was reported that Washington was closing the U.S. embassy in Kyiv and "temporarily redeploying" the small number of diplomatic personnel remaining in the country to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.
The German consulate for Ukraine’s eastern regions is also transferring to Lviv, from the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine.
Some employees of the Russian diplomatic mission will also leave Ukraine, the Russian authorities have announced.
U.S. media outlet Politico reported that U.S. President Joe Biden briefed Washington’s NATO and EU allies about Moscow’s plans to invade Ukraine on Feb. 16.
The Kremlin responded by accusing Western media of a “large-scale misinformation campaign.”
Currently, there are approximately 140,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine, from Russia, Belarus, and the temporarily occupied territories.
The Kremlin denies it is gearing up for invasion, and has instead accused Ukraine of planning false flag operations, as well as of drawing up plans to use force to restore Kyiv’s control over territories lost since 2014.
However, the Kremlin has declined to provide a guarantee of non-invasion, and has supplied no evidence of this alleged planned Ukrainian offensive.
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