US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that staff in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv would spend the night in Poland amid a dramatic escalation in the months-long stand-off on the eastern Ukrainian border, news agency MIA reports.
“For security reasons, Department of State personnel currently in Lviv will spend the night in Poland. Our personnel will regularly return to continue their diplomatic work in Ukraine and provide emergency consular services,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The fact that we are taking prudent precautions for the sake of the safety of U.S. government personnel and U.S. citizens, as we do regularly worldwide, in no way undermines our support for, or our commitment to, Ukraine,” Blinken went on.
Earlier in February, the US moved its embassy operations from the capital Kiev to the city of Lviv near the border with Poland as a temporary precautionary measure amid escalating tensions on Ukraine’s eastern border.
