Australia Evacuates Final Ukraine Embassy Staff

Australia temporarily suspended operations at its embassy in Kyiv and evacuated staff, as Russia keeps building up troops on its border with Ukraine.

“Australia has ordered all remaining embassy staff in Kyiv to leave”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.

The evacuation follows similar announcements from the United States and Canada, and is exactly after a frenzy of telephone diplomacy failed to ease increasing regional tensions Saturday.

Russia has almost surrounded its western neighbour with more than 100,000 troops.

Tensions intensified after Washington warned that an all-out invasion could begin “any day” and Russia launched its biggest naval drills in years across the Black Sea.

According to the Prime Minister Morrison, the three remaining staff in Kyiv had been supporting “many Australians (in Ukraine), many of whom are dual citizens”.

“The situation, as you are all hearing, is deteriorating, and is reaching a very dangerous stage,” he said.

While decrying “the autocratic, unilateral actions of Russia”, the prime minister also pivoted back to regional politics, condemning China for “remaining chillingly silent on Russian troops amassing on the Ukrainian border”.

“The coalition of autocracies that we’re seeing, seeking to bully other countries, is not something that Australia ever takes a light position on,” Morrison said.

Australia Foreign Minister Marise Payne has called for Australians to leave Ukraine with immediate effect, warning that “security conditions could change at short notice.”