Fox News' Pentagon correspondent is reporting early Saturday that all family members of US embassy personnel in Kiev, Ukraine have been ordered to evacuate. "State Department orders families of U.S. embassy personnel in Ukraine to begin evacuating the country as soon as Monday: U.S. officials," Fox's Lucas Tomlinson reports.
It first emerged Friday that the Biden administration was mulling a plan to evacuate diplomats' family members from Ukraine as a "precautionary measure" amid the continued crisis wherein Washington has predicted some level of a Russian offensive on the Ukraine border.
It's unclear whether this means US intelligence has picked up on a particular new "threat" from Russia near Ukraine's borders.
As Tomlinson reports further, Russian fighter jets on Friday into Saturday began arriving in nearby Belarus, with US officials expressing alarm that Ukraine's capital is "now in the crosshairs". CNN and The Guardian are also reporting early Saturday:
The US embassy in Ukraine has requested the evacuation of all non-essential staff amid increasing fears of an imminent Russian invasion and the arrival overnight of arms deliveries promised by President Joe Biden, according to a CNN report.
US evacuations are likely to start "as early as next week", the US cable news network said, citing a source close to the Ukrainian government. It marks the embassy’s shift in focus towards “helping Ukraine bolster its defences in the face of growing Russian aggression”.
At the same time, Russia's embassy in Washington D.C. has been calling on the West to "end the hysteria" - assuring that there are no plans to invade Ukraine. Earlier in the week it issued a message on Twitter, saying, "We stress once again: Russia is not going to attack anyone. The practice of moving troops on our own soil is a sovereign right."
During talks in Geneva on Friday between Antony Blinken and Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, there appeared to be positive signs that dialogue was opening up toward de-escalation. Just after, the US Embassy in Kiev posted photographs of newly arrived shipments of American-supplied lethal aid for Ukrainian forces.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-embassy-ukraine-orders-evacuation-all-non-essential-staff-diplomats-family-membersThe Pentagon and US intelligence is said to be watching Ukraine's northern neighbor Belarus very closely, given Moscow's recent statements confirming it is currently moving more S-400 missile systems into the allied country.
"Russia is moving two divisions of its S-400 Triumph air-defense systems, designed to take down enemy warplanes, into neighboring Belarus to take part in military exercises, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on Friday," Russian state sources report.
S-400 missiles are reportedly being transported to Belarus all the way from Russia's far east. While it comes as tensions are on edge, as the world's eyes are watching the Russia-Ukraine border, the transfer of major military hardware to Minsk is said to be part of preparations for joint Belarus-Russian war drills set to run February 10 through 20.
The exercises will in part be aimed at "reinforcing the state border." This is also likely intended as a response to this week's White House-ordered "lethal aid" delivery to Ukraine's military. The UK has also been flying in repeat plane-loads of weaponry, most likely including anti-tank missiles.
According to Pentagon officials cited in Fox News, there's concern that Russia can much more easily target Kiev if it wants, given all its military assets in Belarus:
Advanced Russian fighter jets have now arrived in Belarus, north of Ukraine. The Pentagon is concerned that Ukraine's capital is "now in the crosshairs," another official added.
But Russia has repeatedly sought to assure the West that there are no "invasion plans" - as has been the charge over the last two months.
But both sides are now accusing the other over the potential for a provocation which could quickly result in a shooting war on the ground. Likely any conflict should it erupt would center in Donbass, in Ukraine's east.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kiev-now-crosshairs-russia-moves-fighter-jets-s-400-missiles-belarus-pentagonhttps://youtu.be/PqfyZ618Bks
H/T-CTH
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