White House warns it won’t rescue civilians in Ukraine if Russia invades
White House has urged the Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately, as it warned that Russia could potentially launch an invasion of the country any day now.
“Any American in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event, in the next 24 to 48 hours,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said at a White House media briefing on Friday.
Sullivan said President Joe Biden “will not be putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk by sending them into a war zone to rescue people who could have left now but chose not to.” He added: “We’re asking people to make the responsible choice.”
Sullivan said that there’s no certainty about the future but the intelligence reports suggest that risk of Russian invasion “is now high enough and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands.”
“If a Russian attack on Ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could, obviously, kill civilians without regard to their nationality. A subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force,” he warned.
Besides the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Japan and South Korea all directed their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.
Biden on Russia-Ukraine tensions
President Biden also warned Americans again to leave Ukraine, saying the tensions between Russia and Ukraine could escalate quickly. “It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest Army’s in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly,” Biden told NBC News.
Biden also clarified that the U.S. isn’t planning a military operation to help its citizens leave Ukraine. “American citizens should leave now,” Biden in an interview with NBC. When asked him what kind of scenarios would prompt a U.S. rescue mission in case of Russian invasion, Biden said: “There’s not [one] … That’s a world war — when Americans and Russians start shooting at one another, we’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been in.” Biden said that a military-run evacuation would be extremely complicated.
Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, sparking fears that Putin will launch a military offensive.
