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About 200-300 Swedes are in Ukraine, according to the Swedish embassy in Kiev.
Sweden joins the list of countries that have issued travel advisories for their citizens to leave Ukraine in view of a possible Russian invasion.The Draghi government's foreign ministry has taken the same line, asking Italian citizens in Ukraine to leave the country at this time using commercial means of transport.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, meanwhile, made it known that for the time being his country's embassy in Kiev will remain open and will operate with security personnel.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Kiev today urged its citizens to contact soon in order to facilitate their departure from Ukraine, the country's state television network reported.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, also urged their citizens to cancel any plans to visit Ukraine amid tensions between Kiev and Moscow.
In the same vein, Jordan today called on its nationals to leave Ukraine due to "recent developments," the country's foreign ministry said in a statement. It also called on its citizens to cancel any plans to visit the country.
Among the countries that have issued travel advisories is Greece. The Foreign Ministry on Friday, February 11 recommended that Greeks who are in or traveling to Ukraine should be in contact with the Embassy in Kiev," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It is noted that on Friday, the United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, Norway, Latvia and South Korea recommended that their citizens in Ukraine leave the country.
Last Monday, US President Joe Biden encouraged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country in anticipation of a possible Russian invasion.
Yesterday, Friday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called on all Americans remaining in Ukraine "to leave immediately."
"We want to be clear on this point. Any Americans in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event, in the next 24 to 48 hours," Sullivan said.
"Obviously we can't predict the future. We don't know exactly what's going to happen, but the risk is now quite high and the threat is now quite immediate," he said."
Sullivan said that if the Americans stay "they are assuming the risk with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave" and that no U.S. military evacuation operation is planned "in the event of a Russian invasion.
Phone call between Blinken and Lavrov
Earlier today, Saturday, the US and Russian foreign ministers had a phone call.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the US of wanting to provoke a conflict in Ukraine with its accusations of a possible imminent Russian intervention.
Sergei Lavrov stressed that "the propaganda campaign launched by the US and its allies about a 'Russian attack' on Ukraine is aimed at provoking, encouraging the authorities in Kiev" to resort to a "military solution to the Donbass problem", the region of eastern Ukraine, on the border with Russia, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow for eight years, the statement said.
At the same time, U.S. diplomatic chief Anthony Blinken assured that the diplomatic path remains "open" to avoid a conflict in Ukraine, but a "de-escalation" by Moscow would be necessary during a phone call today with his Russian counterpart, according to the State Department.
Source: cnn.gr
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