On Sunday, The Washington Times posted an article about the potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The article reports:
Americans in Ukraine will be on their own if Russia invades so the U.S. government is advising them to take the earliest commercial flight possible out of the country.
On Sunday, State Department officials said they didn’t know if Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to send tanks across the border but insisted such a move could come “at any time.”
“The U.S. government will not be in a position to evacuate American citizens in such a contingency,” a senior State Department official told reporters in a briefing. “Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine will severely impact the U.S. embassy’s ability to provide consular assistance.”
So why aren’t we providing military flights to get Americans out of the country now? The government has issued a “do not travel” advisory because of the coronavirus, but has not ordered American citizens to leave the country.
The article concludes:
Although repeatedly pressed by reporters in Sunday’s briefing, State Department officials wouldn’t say how many U.S. citizens are believed to be in Ukraine.
“It’s a number we are not able to share because we don’t have a solid number (and) it’s not ‘helpful’ to share estimated numbers,” an official said.
U.S. officials wouldn’t comment on British reports that Russia is planning to invade and replace Ukraine’s government in Kyiv with one that could be controlled by Moscow.
“We’re very concerned about attempts to destabilize (Ukraine) internally,” the State Department official said. “We have been concerned and have been warning about those kinds of tactics for weeks. That is very much part of the Russian playbook.”
Remember when America was respected around the world to the point that our citizens were not in danger when they were in other countries?
I heard an interesting commentary on this situation on Saturday. There are well-informed people who believe that Russia is simply posturing in order to get more favorable trade agreements. I have no idea if that is true, but I like that idea much better than the idea of going to war.