Canadians should avoid all travel to Ukraine due to the growing risk of an armed conflict with Russia, the federal government warns.
Ottawa updated its travel advisory to Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon after previously advising Canadians to avoid only non-essential travel, and to evaluate if their presence was essential in the eastern European nation.
“Avoid all travel to Ukraine due to ongoing Russian threats and the risk of armed conflict,” the advisory reads.
“If you are in Ukraine, you should leave while commercial means are available.”
The notice follows a series of measures the Canadian government has implemented amid fears Russia could soon send its military forces into the former Soviet state.
Canada is pulling out non-essential staff and families from its embassy in Kyiv amid concerns of a possible escalation in the crisis. Ottawa has also announced a series of measures to support Ukraine during the conflict.
In recent weeks, Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops, tanks and other military equipment near Ukraine’s borders, stoking fears in the West an armed invasion is impending. Russia has denied it’s planning an invasion, and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly pressed for calm.
The buildup adds to the growing tensions between the two countries. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea after Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted. An insurgency then began between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces, which has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
Western nations are scrambling to respond and are pursuing a diplomatic solution to calm the situation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the U.S. and its allies have ignored Russia’s top security demands, but that Moscow is still open for more talks with the West on easing soaring tensions over Ukraine.
Putin argued it’s possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if interests of all parties, including Russia’s security concerns, are considered.
He deplored the West’s refusal to accommodate the Kremlin’s demands for guarantees that NATO won’t expand to Ukraine, won’t deploy weapons near the Russian border and will roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.
Talks between Russia and the West have so far failed to produce any progress.
— with files from the Associated Press