Biden, Putin to speak again as US orders most embassy staff out of Ukraine

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday as America ordered most of its diplomats and employees to leave the Embassy in Ukraine over fears that Moscow would soon mount a major assault.

“Despite the reduction in diplomatic staff, the core embassy team, our dedicated Ukrainian colleagues, and State Department and US personnel around the world will continue relentless diplomatic and assistance efforts in support of Ukraine’s security, democracy, and prosperity,” the US embassy in Kyiv tweeted after the development.

Putin requested the telephone call between the leaders to take place on Monday, a White House official said, but Biden wanted to conduct it sooner as Washington detailed increasingly vivid accounts of a possible attack on Ukraine.

China, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands on Saturday joined countries urging their citizens to leave Ukraine. Washington said on Friday that a Russian invasion, including a possible air assault, could occur anytime.

The US had dramatically raised the alarm over Ukraine on Friday, saying a Russian invasion starting with civilians caught under aerial bombing could begin in days and telling US citizens to leave within 48 hours.

An attack by the more than 100,000 Russian troops currently massed next to Ukraine “could occur any day now”, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington.

Dismissing speculation that the Kremlin would never trigger the crisis while the Beijing Olympics were still underway in close Russian ally China, Sullivan said such an attack “could occur” before the Games end on February 20. The scenario of an imminent attack is “a very, very distinct possibility”, Sullivan added.

While stressing that it was not yet known whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had taken a decision, saying “we can’t predict the exact determination,” Sullivan made clear the United States was bracing for the worst, including a “rapid assault” on the capital Kyiv.

“If a Russian attack on Ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians,” he said. “Any American in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Sullivan spoke shortly after President Joe Biden and six European leaders, the heads of Nato and the European Union held talks on the worst crisis between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War.

A US official said Biden would speak with Putin on Saturday, while the French government said that President Emmanuel Macron would also be calling the Russian leader on Saturday.

Russia surrounding Ukraine

Russian naval forces and troops, including units brought in from all over the vast country, now surround Ukraine to the south, east and north.

Russia, which denies any plan to attack Ukraine, already controls the Crimea territory seized in 2014 and supports separatist forces controlling Ukraine’s Donbas region in the east.

The Kremlin says its goal is to get Nato to agree to never give Ukraine membership and also to withdraw from eastern European countries already in the alliance, effectively carving Europe into Cold War-style spheres of influence. The United States and its European allies reject the demands, insisting that Nato poses no threat to Russia.

Adding to tensions, large-scale Russian military drills were underway on Friday with authoritarian ally Belarus, which lies just north of Kyiv and also borders the European Union.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday it was also holding military exercises near Ukraine’s border in the Black Sea. According to the head of Norway’s military intelligence service, Russia is operationally ready to conduct a wide range of military operations in Ukraine and the Kremlin just needs to make the call.