Related video: The United States will deploy additional troops to Europe, the U.S. Defense Department's spokesman John Kirby announced on Feb. 2, 2022, citing tensions on Ukraine's borders. (Xinhua)
U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Saturday ordered most of its staff at the embassy in Ukraine to evacuate, suspending the regular consular services.
In an updated travel advisory posted on the website of the embassy, the State Department said it "ordered the departure of most U.S. direct hire employees from Embassy Kyiv due to the continued threat of Russian military action."
Passport, visa and other routine consular services will be suspended starting Sunday, but the United States will maintain a small consular presence in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to handle emergencies, it added.
The update came two days after Washington urged all U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine immediately.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday at the White House that U.S. nationals should evacuate within 48 hours, citing unspecified intelligence purporting a Russian invasion of Ukraine at any moment.
The State Department has been told in recent days that a "couple thousand" Americans are still in Ukraine, a "substantial number" of whom do not want to leave, a senior State Department official said during a call with reporters on Saturday.
Combo photo shows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaking on different occasions. (Xinhua)
U.S., RUSSIAN MINISTERS TALK OVER PHONE
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over phone on Saturday. Blinken, according to his own post on Twitter after the call, reiterated "Russian aggression" would be met with a resolute and massive response.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement regarding the Lavrov-Blinken phone call on its website, saying the Russian top diplomat "stressed that the propaganda campaign launched by the United States and its allies regarding 'Russian aggression' against Ukraine pursues provocative goals, encouraging the authorities in Kiev to sabotage the Minsk agreements and harmful attempts to resolve the 'Donbas problem' by force."
"As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, the reaction by Washington and Brussels to the drafts of the Russian-American treaty and agreement with NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on security guarantees submitted by us ignores key provisions for us, primarily on the non-expansion of the alliance and the non-deployment of strike weapon systems near Russian borders," the statement said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also held a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu, on Saturday.
U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. ■
