The Foreign Office has issued new guidance advising British citizens in Ukraine to leave now while commercial means are still available, amid increasing concern of an invasion by Russia.
On Thursday Biden urged all US citizens to leave, saying “things could go crazy very quickly”.
The US president also announced emergency military plans to airlift Americans who had fled Ukraine into Poland, in an effort to avoid the kind of evacuation fiasco that occurred in Kabul last summer.
British sources said the UK was not preparing an emergency airlift as there were ample commercial flights operating daily and the land border with Poland was open. It is thought the number of British citizens in Ukraine is in the low thousands. Many have strong ties there and are unlikely to leave.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: “The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority, which is why we have updated our travel advice. We urge British nationals in Ukraine to leave now via commercial means while they remain available.”
It added that it urged “those British people who choose to remain in Ukraine [to] keep their departure plans under constant review, and ensure their travel documents are up to date”. It also warned: “British nationals should not expect consular support or help with evacuating in the event of a Russian military incursion.”
The UK is likely to reduce the size of its embassy staffing for a second time. It already advises British citizens against any travel to two Russian-backed regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, in the east of the country.
It comes as UK government sources said the Foreign Office was preparing to launch a crisis team to deal with escalating tensions in Ukraine.
Keen to avoid a repeat of the chaotic response to Afghanistan’s takeover by the Taliban, FCDO officials are understood to be revising plans for how to respond if war breaks out in eastern Europe. Multiple sources said the FCDO was preparing to launch a gold/silver/bronze structure that could be ready within days to tackle major incidents.
The chain of command is employed in crisis situations, such as the evacuation from Kabul and repatriations when the Covid pandemic began, and would mean civil servants are designated strategic, tactical and operational roles.
The FCDO said it was not in crisis mode and the gold/silver/bronze structure had not yet been set up. A spokesperson said: “The emerging situation in and around Ukraine is a top priority for the FCDO and, as everyone would expect, we have robust contingency plans in place to respond to any developments.”
On Friday, Boris Johnson told a group of western countries and Nato in a virtual meeting that “he feared for the security of Europe in the current circumstances”. The prime minister said that “allies needed to continue with efforts to reinforce and support the eastern frontiers of Nato”.
UK officials insisted the government was not acting on a specific piece of new intelligence suggesting a Russian invasion was imminent, or because the US had acted so decisively.
Officials said the UK travel advice had been kept under constant review and was issued independently of any other country. But the British government has said the Russian military exercises under way in Belarus, put alongside the Russian naval manoeuvres in the Black Sea, represent potentially the riskiest moment since the crisis began.
The UK, like other European powers, has been under conflicting pressures since the Kyiv government indicated it would like western politicians to tone down the sense of imminent conflict, as it was damaging the Ukrainian economy. Germany and France have been less ready to predict an imminent Russian invasion, even though they are receiving the same intelligence as the UK and US.
The UK stressed that numerous diplomatic avenues to head off conflict were still open, despite the tensions at a meeting between the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, on Thursday.
On Thursday diplomatic talks in Berlin involving Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, designed to promote a degree of autonomy for the Russia-supporting eastern provinces in Ukraine, broke up with no agreement after eight hours. It is expected that the four countries will hold further talks next month.
Separately, papers are still being exchanged between the US, Nato and Russia about Moscow’s broader demand for a change in the European security architecture.
