No Plans to Evacuate U.S. Citizens from Ukraine

The United States is not planning to evacuate Americans from Ukraine amid ongoing fears of a Russian invasion of the country.

“I think you've heard us say consistently, that there are no active efforts in play to militarily evacuate American citizens from Ukraine,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters today.

The U.S. has also warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Ukraine. “Our advice is that this is not the time to be going to Ukraine. It's not the time to be staying there,” he said.

Kirby added, “President (Joe Biden) himself just the other day, advised Americans to leave Ukraine, given the current tensions. So, there's been plenty of time and opportunity, and it's not a war zone. I mean, there's plenty of physical opportunities to remove yourself from Ukraine.”

Russia and Belarus are starting 10 days of massive joint military drills, which the U.S. calls an “escalatory” move. Russian Chief of Defense General Gerasimov arrived in Belarus today.

“It’s not uncommon for Chiefs of Defense to observe exercises,” Kirby said.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops at the border.

“Obviously, we're not looking at this exercise in a vacuum. And we understand that Senior Military Leaders are very much involved in facilitating this build up,” Kirby said. “We have continued to see even over the last 24 hours additional capabilities flow from elsewhere in Russia to that border with Ukraine and in Belarus.”