The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said Americans currently in the country should “consider departing now” in a message posted on the embassy website on Wednesday.
“The security situation in Ukraine continues to be unpredictable due to the increased threat of Russian military action and can deteriorate with little notice,” the message states. “The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider departing now using commercial or other privately available transportation options.”
The message comes amid fears of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin has moved over 100,000 troops to the Ukrainian border, and deployed fighter jets in Belarus, which sits on Ukraine’s northern border.
The U.S. has responded by sending arms shipments to Ukraine, including a 79-ton shipment including anti-tank missiles that arrived on Tuesday. North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states have increased military forces in eastern NATO states including the Baltic nations and Romania and Bulgaria.
The U.S. and several NATO allies are considering a deployment of thousands of additional troops to Eastern European NATO member nations before a potential Russian invasion, three U.S. officials told CNN on Wednesday.
Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France met in Paris on Wednesday for discussions on the crisis, however Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov criticized efforts to arm and defend Ukraine.
Lavrov condemned the “increasingly provocative exercises held near our borders, the drawing of the Kyiv regime into the NATO orbit, its supply with lethal weapons, and the push for its direct provocations against the Russian Federation” in a speech to the Duma, Russia’s parliament, on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported.
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