White House Warns US Forces Will Not Evacuate Americans From Ukraine If Russia Invades

The Biden administration has warned American citizens in Ukraine to leave the country as soon as possible, adding U.S. forces will not be used to evacuate Americans in the event of a Russian invasion.

What Happened: At a press conference Friday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an invasion of Ukraine at any moment and called on Americans to exit Ukraine over the next 24 to 48 hours.

“It is the time to leave now,” he said. “We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.”

Sullivan added that there would be no U.S. intervention in Ukraine to rescue Americans who are still in the country if the Russians launch an invasion.

“The president 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 said.

More than 100,000 Russian troops are on the Ukraine border. While Putin has insisted he has no plans to invade Ukraine, the Biden administration has changed its initial observation that Putin would wait to invade until after the Beijing Winter Olympics conclude on Feb. 20.

“As we’ve said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier Friday while meeting with Australian government officials in Melbourne. “And to be clear that includes during the Olympics.”

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What Else Happened: Other countries have echoed the U.S. example by calling on their nationals to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.

The U.K. Foreign Office recommended that its nationals leave Ukraine while commercial flights are still available, adding that while it will maintain its embassy in the event of invasion, it would be unable to offer in-person consular assistance.

Estonia, Latvia, Japan, Netherlands and Norway have also called home their Ukraine-based citizens. The Israeli government is evacuating relatives of its embassy staff in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and has asked its nationals not to travel in the region. South Korea has banned its citizens from traveling to the region.

Update: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of 3,000 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland. The troops will join an earlier squad of approximately 1,700 paratroopers who were ordered there on Feb. 2.

Photo: A Ukrainian soldier, courtesy Bem Photography/Flickr Creative Commons.