
Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora on February 13 called on Kosovar citizens to “leave Ukraine as soon as possible” amid fears of an invasion by Russia.
The MFA statement said that given the tensions between the two countries, “the start of an open armed conflict can no longer be ruled out.”
For current information and concrete assistance, citizens of the Republic of Kosovo located in Ukraine can contact the Embassy of Kosovo in Prague at the number: + 420 257 217 775 or at the email address: [email protected] “, It was said in the announcement.
The Ministry has not announced the number of Kosovar citizens in Ukraine.
Recall that in the Balkan region, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia have called on their citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine as well.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet made that call, while Serbia has recommended its citizens in Ukraine to consider leaving the country.
So far countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands have also called on their citizens to leave Ukraine.
The US, Australia and Canada have announced the evacuation of their embassies in Kiev.
In recent days, Washington has stepped up warnings of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could happen at any moment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US President Joe Biden stressed in a telephone conversation on February 13 the importance of pursuing “diplomacy and prevention in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders.”
Russia has denied that the accumulation of more than 100,000 troops and military equipment in areas near the border with Ukraine is a warning of a possible invasion.
Russia is urging the West to keep former Soviet countries out of NATO. It also wants NATO to refrain from laying down arms near its border and withdrawing alliance forces from Eastern Europe – demands categorically rejected by the West.
Russia and Ukraine have been embroiled in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s friendly leader to the Kremlin was ousted from office by a popular uprising.
Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean peninsula and then backing a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed more than 14,000 people.
A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular clashes continued and efforts to reach a political solution stalled./RFE/RL/