Saudi Arabia echos international warnings against travel to Ukraine

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Kiev on Saturday have urged Saudi citizens to quickly contact the embassy to facilitate their departure from Ukraine as tensions mount with Russia.

The embassy also advised citizens to postpone any plans to visit Ukraine, state television reported.

Many countries on Saturday have issued a notice advising against traveling to Ukraine amid heightened tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.

Arab countries such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq have warned citizens from traveling to Ukraine and urged those present in the country to depart immediately.

British nationals were also informed that those who choose to stay in Ukraine should not expect a military evacuation if conflict with Russia ensues, junior defence minister James Heappey told Sky News on Saturday.

“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 said.

Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra called on Dutch citizens on Saturday to leave Ukraine as soon as possible due to the security situation there .

Germany on Saturday asked its nationals whose presence in Ukraine was not “imperative” to leave, saying a “military conflict cannot be excluded” as tensions mount.

“Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have again shot up in the last few days due to the massive movements of Russian military units near the Ukrainian border,” the foreign ministry said.

“If you are currently in Ukraine, make sure that your presence is imperative. If that is not the case, please leave the country for the time being.”

Americans in Ukraine were told Friday they should leave within 48 hours as Russia could attack at any time, likely with an air assault, the White House said.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of seeking to provoke a conflict in Ukraine.