U.S. orders most Ukraine embassy staff to depart because of ‘threat of Russian

Fearing the potential for imminent conflict, a growing number of nations have urged their citizens to depart Ukraine in recent days. The Biden administration on Saturday announced it would reduce its embassy in Kyiv to a skeleton staff and pull military trainers back from their positions in western Ukraine.

The Kremlin, describing the two leaders’ first conversation since late last year, accused the United States of stoking conflict and portrayed Ukraine, not Russia, as the potential aggressor. U.S. officials have said Russia, now conducting major military exercises in neighboring Belarus, could launch a “false flag” operation as a pretext for an assault.

“The Americans are artificially inflating the hysteria around the so-called planned Russian invasion,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters following the call. “The preconditions for possible provocative actions of the Ukrainian armed forces are being created alongside these allegations.”

At the same time, Moscow said it would pull its own diplomatic staff from Ukraine, citing “possible provocations by the Kyiv regime and third countries.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was in response to other governments’ deciding to draw down their diplomatic corps and urging their citizens to leave.

“We conclude that our American and British colleagues apparently know about some military actions being prepared in Ukraine,” she said, according to a statement by the ministry.

The Biden administration intensified its warnings this week about a potential assault, as national security adviser Jake Sullivan cautioned on Friday that Russia could invade in a “reasonably swift time frame.” Sullivan said he could not confirm if Putin had made a final decision to attack, but said that military action, likely beginning with air or missile strikes, could begin “any day.”

As tensions reached a fever pitch, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was prepared to respond.

“We are ready for any steps from any side, from any borders,” he said during a visit to southern Ukraine. “We understand that such things can take place without warning.”

The Ukrainian leader spoke as thousands of protestors, many wearing Ukrainian flags draped across their shoulders, marched in Kyiv on Saturday in a show of defiance.

Demonstrators carried a large banner printed in English that said “Ukrainians will resist,” along with signs in the Ukrainian language saying “Ukraine will triumph,” as the column snaked its way through downtown Kyiv.

A senior U.S. official, speaking to reporters after Biden’s call with Putin, said the two men agreed to stay in touch but said there was “no fundamental change in the dynamic” during the discussion.

The Kremlin meanwhile said Moscow would respond “in the near future” to recent U.S. and NATO proposals for further…