The Portuguese government advised national nationals in Ukraine today to “leave the country when they have no compelling reason to stay and to do so in normal ways”.
“Considering the deteriorating security situation in the country and the possibility of stopping commercial flights, we advise the Portuguese citizens in Ukraine, and there is no pressure to leave the country when they can do so in normal ways,” he advises. Announcement now published on the portal Das Communities Portuguese.
Other than Portugal, other countries are asking their citizens in Ukraine to leave the country.
The list includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Iraq, Kuwait and Italy.
The calls came in the wake of the US announcement that Russia could invade Ukraine “at any time” in the coming days.
Last Sunday, February 12, Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva underlined that embassy services would not require Portuguese residents already in Ukraine to leave the country for essential reasons.
The Minister pointed out that there are 240 Portuguese residents in the country and with whom the Embassy and Consulate General in Kiev is in permanent contact.
The West and Russia are currently experiencing intense tension, with the Moscow regime accused of amassing at least 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, an obvious preparation for a possible invasion of the neighboring country.
Moscow denies any war intentions and claims to have withdrawn part of the territory.
In recent days, however, the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists have been blaming each other for renewed bombings in the east of the country, where war between the two factions has been going on since 2014.
Leaders of pro-Russian separatists from Lukansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine today ordered a public mobilization to counter the escalation of violence.
International observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Friday reported a “significant increase” in ceasefire violations in the region, with more than 800 violations on Friday alone, three times higher than last month’s average.
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