Canada is following in the footsteps of the United States and the United Kingdom in finally ordering the evacuation of non-essential personnel from its embassy in Ukraine, as Russian army exercises increased on the edge of the border on Tuesday.
Cautious on Monday about the imminence of this evacuation, Ottawa became more assertive on Tuesday by announcing the temporary withdrawal “of children under the age of 18 of Canadian employees of the embassy as well as the members of their family who accompany them”, the Federal Ministry for Global Affairs said in a press release.
Canada justifies this decision citing the “safety of Canadians, our personnel and their families at our missions abroad” 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 Kyiv to leave the country “due to the continuing threat of a Russian military operation” and advised Americans against 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, Ottawa reiterated its call to “avoid all non-essential travel” to Ukraine and to “avoid all travel” to Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Moscow, and the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
While accusing Washington of ramping up the pressure in the conflict, Russia launched new military maneuvers near Ukraine and in annexed Crimea on Tuesday, hours after the United States put thousands of American troops on alert. , to deal with a possible invasion of the former Soviet republic by Moscow.
Accusations come from both sides
While diplomatic discussions continue, without results, Russians and Westerners accuse each other of fueling the crisis by gestures and words, at the risk of provoking a larger-scale conflict.
The Russian 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, imposing sanctions on Moscow of unprecedented severity, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. .
“We have agreed to respond to any attack from Ukraine in unison by imposing coordinated and tough economic sanctions, tougher than we have ever decided before against Russia,” Mr Johnson summed up to British MPs at following a Monday evening videoconference between the United States and its European allies.
Before the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, however, sought to reassure the country 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 anytime soon. “Don’t worry, sleep well,” he added. “No need to pack your bags. »
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials in the country assured that the situation was “under control” and called on their allies to calm down.
The order to evacuate the US embassy in Kiev was called a “dramatization” of the ongoing diplomatic conflict between Russia and the West by the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell who called for avoiding “alarmist reactions”.
With Agence France-Presse