UAE and Kuwait advise citizens against travel to Ukraine

Saudi Arabia says it is arranging for its citizens to leave the country, amid mounting fears of conflict

Pedestrians in Independence Square in the Ukraine's capital Kiev. A growing number of countries are asking their citizens to leave the country. EPA

The UAE embassy in Kiev on Saturday issued an advisory asking citizens to avoid travel to Ukraine.

It said Emirates' citizens should postpone plans to go to Ukraine and provided those in the country with a phone number to contact.

Kuwait also asked its citizens not to travel to Ukraine, and advised Kuwaitis already in the country to leave.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's embassy in Kiev urged its citizens to quickly get in touch to arrange their departure from the country, Saudi state TV reported.

Jordan also called on its nationals to leave Ukraine in light of the “current developments”, the foreign ministry said. It also called on citizens to postpone any plans to visit the country.

The advisories follow a US warning on Friday that an invasion by Russia could happen at any time.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that after months of building up its military forces on Ukraine's borders, Russia had reached the point of being able to invade its neighbour in “a relatively near-term time frame".

The US and several other countries — including the UK, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Japan and South Korea — have already asked their citizens to leave Ukraine.

The US embassy in Kiev said on Saturday that the State Department had ordered all non-emergency employees at the mission to leave “due to continued reports of a Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine, indicating potential for significant military action".

UK junior defence minister James Heappey warned Britons that there would be no military evacuation effort in case they were caught up in conflict in Ukraine.

“British nationals should leave Ukraine immediately by any means possible and they should not expect, as they saw in the summer with Afghanistan, that there would be any possibility of a military evacuation,” he told Sky News.

Mr Heappey said no decision had yet been made on Britain's diplomatic presence in Ukraine.