The Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Kyiv have asked Israelis in the country to provide them with their contact information in a move that appears to have been made in preparation for a possible military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. Some 3,000 people have answered the call thus far.
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Officials, who are following the events on the ground, have made no mention of plans to evacuate Israelis from the country at this time.
The Jewish Agency, meanwhile, informed its employees in the country it was preparing to evacuate them from the country should that be necessary. In a letter to Jewish Agency employees and volunteers, the organization said that if war were to break out, it would ensure they were able to return to Israel.
As Russian forces continue to amass on the Ukrainian border, several Western states, including the US, have evacuated some of their diplomatic staff. Washington evacuated relatives of diplomats "out of an abundance of caution" and recommended US citizens leave the country immediately.
Officials in Kyiv expressed disappointment with the move, which they blamed on fears of a repeat of the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko called the move "an act of excessive caution."
"There have been no recent, drastic changes to the security situation," Nikolenko said. "The threat of new waves of Russian aggression has remained since 2014, while the military buildup near the country's border began last April."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Ukrainian officials in contact with Western representatives said the decision to evacuate civilians from Kyiv was made for a number of reasons but was largely due to the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
According to the Ukrainian officials, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan left many Western governments extremely sensitive to the situation in Ukraine. They noted the moves were negatively impacting public sentiments in the country and called for "an end to the hysteria."
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