Canada followed suit on Tuesday with the United States and the United Kingdom in finally ordering the evacuation of non-essential personnel from its embassy in Ukraine, while Russian army exercises were accentuated at several points. the border.
Cautious on Monday about the imminence of this evacuation, Ottawa became more assertive 24 hours later by announcing the temporary repatriation of “children under the age of 18 of Canadian employees of the embassy as well as [d]family members accompanying them,” the Federal Ministry of Global Affairs said in a statement.
Canada justified this decision by referring to the “safety [du] staff and [des] families” from his diplomatic mission in Kyiv, the capital, and “due to the current Russian military deployment and destabilizing activities in and around Ukraine”.
On Sunday evening, the White House ordered the families of American diplomats stationed in this former Soviet republic to leave the country given “the continuing threat of a Russian military operation” and advised against Americans traveling to Russia. . A decision followed on Monday by the United Kingdom, which began the repatriation of “certain members of staff” from its embassy in Kiev and their families, said the British Foreign Office.
On Tuesday morning, in the wake of its decision, Ottawa reiterated its call on Canadians to “avoid all non-essential travel” to Ukraine and to “avoid all travel” to Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Moscow, and to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
New military maneuvers
While accusing Washington of ratcheting up the heat in the conflict, Russia launched new military maneuvers near Ukraine and in annexed Crimea on Tuesday, hours after the United States put more than 8,000 American troops on alert. , to deal with a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
While diplomatic discussions continue, without results, Russians and Westerners accuse each other of fueling the crisis with gestures and words.
The Russian military exercises announced on Tuesday involve some 6,000 troops, fighter jets and bombers. They take place in southern Russia, particularly near Ukraine, and in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014.
On Monday, Western leaders agreed to respond with one voice to a possible “attack” on Ukraine by Russia, by imposing sanctions on Moscow of unprecedented severity, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Johnson.
He also warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to the worst bloodshed in Europe since the end of World War II. “No one is going to profit from such a disaster,” he told British MPs the day after a videoconference held Monday evening between the United States and its European allies. “Russia will create a wasteland in a country which, as it constantly reminds us, is made up of fellow Slavs. And Russia can never call that peace. »
The West has agreed on a unified response in the event of an attack from Ukraine and provides for coordinated and severe economic sanctions. They will be “unprecedented”, and Russia “will be totally isolated”, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod warned on Monday.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden took things a step further by pointing out that these sanctions could also target the personal interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Without further details.
Situation “under control”
Before the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, however, sought to reassure the country by saying that an invasion was not imminent, while acknowledging a very real threat.
“As of today, there is no reason to believe” that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine any time soon. “Don’t worry, sleep well,” he added. “No need to pack your bags. »
Russia will create a wasteland in a country which, as it constantly reminds us, is made up of fellow Slavs. And Russia can never call that peace.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials in the country assured that the situation was “under control” and called on their allies for calm, allies whose order to evacuate their embassy has been described as a “dramatization” of the diplomatic conflict by the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, who called on them to avoid “alarmist reactions”.
While fueling the specter of an attack, Joe Biden on Tuesday declined to speculate on when a Russian invasion of Ukraine might occur.
“It would be like reading coffee grounds,” he said.
But he added: if Russia “invades the whole country”, or “even much less”, it will have “enormous consequences”, not only for Russia, but also for “the whole world”, he said. he warned. It would be “the largest invasion since World War II. It would change the world.”
With Agence France-Presse