(Ottawa) Canada announced Saturday to temporarily close its embassy in Kiev and move its operations to a temporary office in Lviv (west) “due to the deterioration of the situation caused by the deployment of Russian troops at the border”.
Posted at 4:07 p.m.
“We will resume activities at the embassy in Kiev as soon as the security situation in Ukraine allows us to guarantee appropriate services and adequate security for our staff,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement.
“Canadians should continue to avoid all travel to Ukraine. We urge those currently in the country to leave now,” she added.
Washington, which ordered the departure of most of its embassy staff in Kiev on Saturday, also transferred employees responsible for essential services to Lviv, about 70 km from the border with Poland.
The United States insisted on Friday on the risk of an “imminent” invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which has massed more than 100,000 troops near the border and has just begun military maneuvers in the Black Sea and in Belarus, de facto framing the country.
Diplomatic efforts marked by a frenzy of phone calls on Saturday between Western leaders and Moscow failed to ease tensions around Ukraine.