Israel’s Foreign Ministry renewed its call for Israeli citizens to leave Ukraine “immediately” Following a situation assessment Saturday (Feb. 19) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The move comes came in the wake of talks held by the Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “with relevant parties” at the Munich Security Conference, as well as the events taking place in eastern Ukraine.
“The outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine may be swift and harsh,” the Foreign Ministry warned Saturday night.
In order to assist Israeli citizens, Ambassador Michael Brodsky and Israeli embassy staff will remain in Kiev “for the time being,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The consular department of the embassy will be open Sunday to provide travel documents to citizens who require them.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following developments as well as the decisions of the United States and the United Kingdom to evacuate their embassies in Kiev and to move them to the city of Levov, with the aim of safeguarding the lives of the State of Israel’s emissaries in Ukraine while providing a solution for Israeli citizens,” the ministry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs “is following developments as well as the decisions of the United States and the United Kingdom to evacuate their embassies in Kiev and to move them to the city of Lvov,” the ministry said.
“Pending further decision, the Israeli embassy will remain in Kiev for the time being; the aim of the foreign ministry is to safeguard the State of Israel’s emissaries in Ukraine while providing a solution for Israeli citizens.”
“A separate office was opened in Levov this past Thursday,” clarified foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Havat, “but it will only be giving consular assistance to Israelis who need travel documents in order to leave Ukraine,” he clarified.
Russian Escalation Increasing Along Ukraine’s Borders
By 7 am Saturday, Ukraine had reported “dozens” of exchanges of fire in the eastern part of the country.
The Ukrainian military said two soldiers were killed and four wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine on Saturday. One of the dead was a captain in Ukraine’s military intelligence unit, who died from shrapnel wounds.
Russian-backed rebels in Luhansk and Donetsk declared general mobilizations and sent their women and children to safety in southern Russia.
With more than 150,000 troops massed along Ukraine’s borders, Russia is continuing to pour troops and military hardware into the area, according to satellite imagery from US-based Maxar Technologies. New helicopters and a battle group deployment of tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs) and support hardware have been deployed in Russia near the border.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin supervised military exercises by his strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Russia had successfully test-launched hypersonic and cruise missiles at sea and land-based targets during the exercises. The drills included Tu-95 bombers and submarines.
Putin was joined in observing the war games at a “situation center” with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
