China News Service, February 15 (Zhang Aolin Guanna) In recent days, the United States, Britain and Germany have repeatedly called on their citizens to evacuate Ukraine. The White House even warned that Russia could "invade" at any time.
The Russian side responded that the U.S. continued to "fire" on the Ukraine issue and had "extremely hysterical".
However, the United States used different channels to play up the news that "Russia is about to invade Ukraine", which made many Ukrainian rich people nervous.
Ukrainian media claimed that the country's richest man, Rinat Akmetov, left on a private jet, but many denied that they were only on a "business trip".
A woman walks past the U.S. embassy in Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine, on January 24.
Repeated "arch fire", the United States played up Russia's "invasion"
On the 11th local time, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said that Russia was sending more troops to the Russian-Ukrainian border and called on U.S. citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately.
On the 12th, the US State Department ordered the evacuation of all non-emergency staff from the embassy in Ukraine, and the embassy's consular services were suspended on the 13th.
After the United States made this decision, many countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada and Japan followed suit, calling on their citizens to evacuate Ukraine as soon as possible.
On the 14th local time, Blinken announced the closure of the US embassy in Ukraine and a "temporary transfer" of a small number of diplomatic personnel remaining in Ukraine to the western city of Lviv.
Blinken said that "the Russian army is accelerating the build-up", and considering the safety of the embassy staff, this decision was made.
Meanwhile, Blinken again urged all U.S. citizens in Ukraine to evacuate immediately.
Not only that, Sullivan, assistant to the US president for national security affairs, also gave the "exact date" of Russia's "invasion". He claimed that the intelligence obtained by the United States showed that Russia may "invade" Ukraine before February 20.
In addition, a U.S. government official revealed that intelligence showed that Russia set the time of the invasion on February 16.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Blinken.
Ukrainian rich people staged a collective "escape"?
According to foreign media reports, in the past few days, the richest people in Ukraine are collectively "fleeing" Ukraine. On the 13th alone, about 20 charter and private planes took off from the capital Kiev.
"Ukraine Pravda" said that the country's richest people are completely withdrawing from Ukraine.
One of the private jets that left on the 13th belonged to Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akmetov.
Data map: People walk on the streets of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
However, some people mentioned by foreign media who "fleeed" Ukraine denied the above statement.
Ukrainian businessman Borys Kolesnikov said he was still in Ukraine and the report was "fake news"; another businessman, Andrey Stavnitser, said that on the 13th He did leave Ukraine, but he was on a business trip to Dubai and will return shortly.
Ukrainian president rushes to "fire the fire"
A series of "evacuation orders", coupled with "invasion intelligence", have made the outside world worried: Is the Russia-Ukraine border war really on the verge of breaking out?
Realizing that the situation was not good, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly "fired the fire". He first spoke out after the United States asked its citizens to evacuate, saying that "no new situation has occurred."
Subsequently, he said on the 13th that any escalation of the situation in Ukraine should be stopped, and pointed out that the Ukrainian capital Kiev and other cities will be guaranteed security.
He also stressed that Ukraine supports a peaceful solution to the conflict.
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In addition, Zelensky also invited Biden to visit Kiev in the next few days during a call with US President Biden that day, saying that "this will be critical to stabilizing the situation, and this will be a strong signal that will help to de-escalate the situation."
As for whether Biden will go, the United States has not made a statement.
In addition, according to foreign media reports, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom said that Ukraine "may" give up joining NATO to avoid war.
Russia's response: the United States has been hysterical
In view of the rapid escalation of the situation, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Biden for about an hour on the 12th.
However, the talks did not achieve a substantive breakthrough. Biden also warned Putin on the phone, saying that once Russia "further invades Ukraine", the United States and its allies will "resolutely respond and quickly make Russia pay a heavy price."
Data map: US President Biden.
In response, Russian Presidential Assistant Ushakov responded on the same day that the United States had been "hysterical to the extreme" on the Ukraine issue.
Ushakov also said that Putin pointed out in the call that the United States and its allies have been supplying Ukraine with new weapons to "encourage it" and incite the Ukrainian army to launch provocations in the Donbass and Crimea regions.
In response to the specific date of Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine given by the United States, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova responded that day: It is unheard of.