US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the “imminent” threat of Russian military action in Ukraine justifies evacuating the US embassy in Kyiv.
His words came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged calm, saying the biggest enemy was panic.
The US decision to evacuate most of its embassy staff in Kyiv was followed by similar moves by Canada and Australia.
An emergency evacuation plan for Kyiv’s three million residents had been drawn up by the capital’s mayor’s office as a precaution.
