US embassy in Ukraine relocates staff to Lviv

• 

Washington has taken a decision to relocate US embassy staff in Ukraine, as revealed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after speaking to the South Korean and Japanese president in Hawaii. 

The embassy staff will be relocated from Kiev to Lviv as NATO raises tensions in the region, gradually deploying more troops and weapons in countries surrounding Russia. 

Canada and Australia's embassies will be suspending their operations to open temporary offices in Lviv. 

"Yesterday, we ordered the departure of most of the Americans still at the US embassy in Kiev. The risk of Russian military action is high enough and the threat is imminent enough that this is the prudent thing to do," Blinken said at a press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong in Hawaii on Saturday.

The US, UK, Netherlands and Japan ordered their citizens to leave Ukraine on Saturday.

Japan raised the alarm, while the Netherlands said "it is not an evacuation, but rather a recommendation" to leave Ukrainian soil. 

A 'core US diplomatic team' will be working in Ukraine alongside their Ukrainian colleagues, according to Blinken, as he spoke again about a Russian invasion that Biden predicts will take place on Wednesday. 

"No one should be surprised if Russia instigates a provocation or incident which it then uses to justify military action," Blinken claimed. 

Yesterday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reminded the world of the dangers of US military ambition. 

"The road roller of the US military-political machine is ready to go through people's lives again. The whole world is watching how militarism and imperial ambitions expose themselves," Zakharova said.

"The hysteria of the White House is more indicative than ever. The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At any cost. Provocations, misinformation and threats are a favorite method of solving their own problems," she said.

Although the US and its European allies have constantly accused Russia of military buildup on the border with Ukraine, with Russia constantly denying that it plans to invade, the Kremlin has accused the West of sending lethal armament, troops, and conducting provocative drills near Russia's borders. 

3,000 additional US troops to Poland 

Yesterday, US Defense Secretary has ordered 3,000 additional soldiers to Poland, following the 2,000 US troops deployed a couple of weeks back, and the lethal weapons pouring into Ukraine and NATO allies. 

"At the direction of the President, Secretary Austin today ordered to Poland the remaining 3,000 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Infantry Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Bragg, N.C.," a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement. 

These troops are expected to be in Poland by early next week. "This second tranche of Airborne soldiers will join in Poland the first tranche of 1,700 soldiers and key enablers that Secretary Austin ordered there on February 2nd. Nearly two-thirds of this first tranche has already arrived," the spokesperson said.