Japan is evacuating almost all of its embassy staff from Ukraine and also calling on its nationals in the country to leave immediately, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
The Japanese Embassy in Kiev will only offer limited services after the evacuation of the diplomatic staff, the ministry said.
On Friday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that Japan had raised the danger warning for staying in Ukraine to the highest level and was urging its citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible amid growing tensions.
The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has established an emergency headquarters to coordinate actions and gather information on the developments in Ukraine, according to the Kyodo News Agency.
Japan is one of many countries that have partially evacuated their diplomatic staff from Kiev this past week, calling on their citizens to leave Ukraine.
The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said during a press conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday that the departure of diplomatic staff from Ukraine was justified.
“The risk of Russian military action is high enough and the threat is imminent enough that this is the prudent thing to do.”
In the past few months, the West and Ukraine have accused Russia of a troop build-up near the Ukrainian border in alleged preparation for an “invasion.”
Moscow has denied these accusations, repeatedly stating that it is not threatening anyone and at the same time expressing strong concerns over NATO’s military activity near the Russian borders, which it deems a threat to its national security.
