The US government will not be in a position to evacuate US citizens from Ukraine if tensions escalate, a senior US Department of State official said at a briefing.
He added that “Russia could try, might try, in some way to topple and replace the Ukrainian government.” At the same time, the Department of State official noted that “as to President Putin’s intentions, we don’t know if he has yet made up his mind to invade, but he is building the military capacity along Ukraine’s borders to have that option ready at any time.”
On Sunday, the US Department of State authorized the departure of US government employees and ordered the departure of family members of US government employees at the US embassy in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. According to a statement published on the embassy’s website, the decision was made “due to·continued Russian efforts to destabilize the country.”
