Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal, in a video message published on the government's website, urged citizens to remain calm, to believe in the army and the state.

According to him, a hybrid war is being waged against Ukraine, which has “many dimensions”.

“The war that is being waged against us is not only soldiers and weapons.

It has many dimensions: the gas crisis in Europe, the devaluation of the hryvnia, cyber attacks on government resources, mass pseudo-mining of infrastructure facilities, paid rallies and pseudo-rallies.

These are all elements of a hybrid war,” Shmygal said.

But the “most terrifying” element of hybrid aggression, in his opinion, is “disinformation with forcing panic.”

“We live in a world of rapid information dissemination, when panic is a gift for the enemy.

It is panic that destroys states better than tanks and machine guns,” Shmyhal said.

Earlier, a similar appeal was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. 

“Now it is critically important to remain calm, to consolidate within the country, to avoid actions that undermine stability and sow panic,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed.

"Annoying Appeals"

Experts interviewed by RT believe that the publication of appeals from the government and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was caused by measures announced by Western states and a number of other countries in connection with the imaginary threat of a "Russian invasion".

In recent days, more than 30 foreign states have called on their citizens to leave Ukraine and have announced plans to relocate or reduce the staff of their diplomatic missions.

“In Kiev, they say that the current situation with panic is a hybrid war of Russia against Ukraine.

However, the hysteria and psychosis in Ukrainian society is inflated by fakes about the “Russian invasion”, the sources of which are US and British officials, as well as the Western media actively playing along with them.

In Kiev, they understand this very well, they see these annoying mass calls to leave Ukraine, but they are again playing a comedy about Russia's fault, ”political analyst Alexander Asafov said in a comment to RT.

The expert recalled that the United States was the first state to call on citizens to immediately leave Ukraine.

In particular, on February 11, US President Joe Biden made such a statement in an interview with NBC, and the State Department posted a message urging US citizens to leave Ukraine by commercial or private transport. 

Following the United States, the authorities of Great Britain, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, Greece, Finland, Germany, Italy, Canada, Montenegro, Sweden, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Spain, Bulgaria, Albania, Japan, South Korea, made similar calls, as well as some countries in the Middle East.

Along with this, the evacuation of diplomatic missions of foreign states began.

Thus, the American authorities announced that most of the employees of the American embassy in Kiev "will immediately leave the country."

The allies of the United States also announced measures regarding the diplomatic presence in Ukraine.

For example, Canada decided to suspend the work of the representative office in the Ukrainian capital and move it to Lviv, while Slovakia announced that it would take the families of the employees of the embassy in Kiev and the consulate general in Uzhgorod home.

“Washington is raising the stakes every day, even specific dates for Russia's “invasion” of Ukraine are already being announced.

We see that Ukraine has become a hostage to this big geopolitical game.

However, there is nothing surprising in this state of affairs.

The West has never considered the real interests of Ukraine.

This country has always been a tool that was used for anti-Russian purposes,” Asafov said.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly complained about the abundance of reports about the upcoming "invasion" of the Russian Federation.

At the end of January, he said that Washington was exaggerating the situation.

According to the President of Ukraine, the White House is making a mistake by aggravating the topic of possible aggression against Ukraine as much as possible.

And the day before, in a conversation with journalists, he urged them to provide evidence for allegations of an imminent military operation against Ukraine. 

  • US Embassy in Kiev

  • RIA News

  • © Stringer

At present, Asafov suggested, the Kiev leadership itself is probably in a state of panic due to the US policy, which provoked a large-scale departure of foreigners and diplomats from Ukraine.

“Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage do not know how to reasonably explain what is happening to Ukrainian citizens.

At the same time, they understand that they do not have any leverage to stop the American provocative stuffing, which is an endless stream.

It is clear that Kiev is trying to somehow argue with the United States, but all this hysteria will stop only when the Americans want it,” Asafov emphasized.

"Empty Sky"

In a RT commentary, Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, explained the concern of the Ukrainian leadership primarily with the economic consequences of the hysteria around the “Russian invasion”.

According to the expert, the Kiev authorities are aware that the Ukrainian economy risks collapsing "under the suppression" of the information campaign launched by the United States.

“There are all prerequisites for this.

Now this is mainly expressed in the fact that foreigners are withdrawing their capital from Ukraine, and the citizens of the country who have savings, against the backdrop of all this hysteria, are thinking about where to go, ”explained Zharikhin.

Today in Kiev they come up with divergent assessments of the economic situation in the country in the context of the spread of panic. 

In his video message, Denys Shmygal said that Ukraine is allegedly only increasing its economic power, including thanks to the support of "international partners".

At the same time, two weeks before Shmygal's speech, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, in an interview with the American edition of Vice, voiced the exact opposite information.

According to the head of the foreign policy department, the Ukrainian economy is weakening "because of the panic spreading in society" and is experiencing a lack of external financial support.

In early February, due to "increased potential for conflict," Fitch downgraded Ukraine's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) outlook from "positive" to "stable".

Analysts said that Kiev has increased "risks associated with external financing" and there is a capital outflow.

In addition, rumors about the high probability of the outbreak of hostilities can hurt the Ukrainian aviation market.

Citing sources in the industry, Strana.ua reported that on February 14, the largest international insurance companies may announce their refusal to cover insured events of air carriers flying over Ukraine.

  • KLM airline plane

  • AFP

  • © PASCAL PAVANI

In a commentary to journalists of this media, the head of the Association of Insurance Business of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, said that the country risks getting "literally an empty sky - neither foreign nor Ukrainian carriers will fly."

To date, it is known about the suspension of flights to Ukraine by the Dutch company KLM.

This information was published by the local newspaper De Telegraaf, citing the air carrier.

In addition, on February 13, the lessor of the Ukrainian airline SkyUp banned one of the aircraft from entering the country's airspace.

The plane that fell under such “sanctions” took off from Portugal and landed in Chisinau, although it was heading to Kiev.

At the moment, most flights to and from Ukraine are operated regularly.

Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said in a commentary to Reuters that Kiev sees no reason to close the airspace, but allowed its partial blockade. 

According to Zharikhin, the air blockade is only a small part of the economic problems that Kiev risks getting.

According to the expert, a truly catastrophic situation in the near future may come with foreign and domestic investment.

“Of course, Ukraine will suffer heavy losses even from the temporary suspension of flights over its territory.

But worst of all is the massive outflow of domestic and foreign investment, which will exacerbate problems in the industry, further increase unemployment and weaken the hryvnia.

I think that Ukraine is close to such a scenario,” Zharikhin said.

Against such an unfavorable background, practically the only salvation for Ukraine could be an increase in lending from the IMF and other international financial institutions, "which is tantamount to tightening the noose around the neck," the expert believes. 

“Ukraine allows itself to be treated like expendable material, because it is completely dependent on the West.

And in the conditions of the coming crisis, Kiev can stay afloat only through new external loans, ”summed up Zharikhin.