SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A host of countries have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine, as U.S. President Joe Biden says sending troops to evacuate citizens would be “world war”.
Biden said in an interview with NBC News published on Friday that the Americans should leave Ukraine “now”, as Russia deployed more troops near Ukraine.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly,” Biden said during the interview.
Regarding any scenario that could prompt him to send troops to rescue Americans fleeing Ukraine, Biden said: “There’s not. That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another.”
“We’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been,” he added.
Meanwhile, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said the Americans should leave Ukraine in the next 24 to 48 hours.
He further said a Russian invasion could start with an air assault that would make departures difficult, according to Reuters.
Sullivan said U.S. intelligence believes Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an invasion before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Feb. 20 and that a rapid assault on the Ukraine capital Kyiv is a possibility.
After the interview, Biden held a phone call on the crisis with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Poland and Romania, as well as heads of NATO and the EU, Reuters reported.
Following that meeting and with alarm spreading, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined a handful of other nations in urging their citizens to leave Ukraine.
Among other countries calling on citizens to leave are the Netherlands, Japan, and South Korea. In its warning Latvia cited “a serious threat to security posed by Russia”.
Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops near the border.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said new Russian forces had arrived at the border in what he described as “very troubling signs of Russian escalation”, BBC reported.
“We’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time, and to be clear, that includes during the Olympics,” Blinken said. The Beijing Games end on Feb. 20.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc was “united and prepared for any scenario”, while the US warned Russia could attack “at any time”.
The current tensions come eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea Peninsula.
Moscow says it cannot accept that Ukraine could one day join the Western defense alliance NATO and has demanded that this be ruled out.
