Senate BuildingWASHINGTON Feb 16Republican U.S. senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging him to «do more» to ensure the safety of fellow citizens in Ukraine. “US citizens are scattered from Texas.” Closing the embassy and orienting Americans to flights or evacuation by land is far from meeting the obligations that this government has to its citizens,” the appeal says. The US authorities are urging Americans to immediately leave Ukraine using commercial flights or traveling by land transport to neighboring countries. They were warned that no organized evacuation was planned and the military would not be sent to retrieve them under any circumstances. the senators said.
In Britain, they accused Russia of building up troops on the border with Ukraine. They expressed their readiness to vote for the allocation of the necessary funds for these purposes. The authors of the appeal requested additional information from the State Department by February 21 regarding plans to support compatriots, opportunities for evacuation, and intentions to maintain a diplomatic presence in Ukraine. Senators operate with data according to which from 6 to 23 thousand Americans may remain in Ukraine, risking «to die or be injured from aerial bombardments, rocket attacks, and the looming threat of Russian ground forces attacking populated areas. Western states have recently expressed concern about Russia's allegedly dangerous actions near the borders of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone and is not going to attack anyone, and statements about «Russian aggression» are used as a pretext to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. Unsubstantiated allegations that Russia is preparing provocations continue to come from the West, despite the return of Russian troops to their places of deployment after the exercises. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At a meeting with Putin, the head of the RF Ministry of Defense reported that «some of the exercises are coming to an end, some will be completed in the near future.» The Southern and Western military districts of the Russian Federation have begun returning troops to their places of deployment, Major General Igor Konashenkov, an official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday. and Biden said that the situation around Ukraine remains serious
