US Prez Biden Asks US Citizens To Leave Ukraine As Talks Between UK, Russia Fail

Biden has stated that he would not send US troops to Ukraine under any circumstances.

Eastern Europe is on the edge of war. 

(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

United States (US) President Joe Biden on Thursday, 10 February, asked American citizens in Ukraine to leave the country immediately, stating that "things could go crazy quickly" if the American and Russian troops were to engage on the ground.

"American citizens should leave, should leave now… We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly," Biden said in an interview with NBC News, warning of a potential major conflict with Moscow.

Further, Biden stated that he would not send US troops to Ukraine under any circumstances, even if it was to rescue Americans in the case of a Russian invasion.

"That's a world war. When Americans and Russians start shooting one another, we're in a very different world," he added.

Meanwhile, the US State Department, on Thursday, issued an advisory warning that the US "will not be able to evacuate US citizens in the event of Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine."

Biden's warning comes days after he had announced the deployment of more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland, and Romania, to counter the Russian build-up of forces around the Ukrainian border.

Tensions between Washington and Moscow have been at their peak since the Cold War, with the US warning that around 1,30,000 Russian soldiers have been mobilised near the Ukrainian border.

Meanwhile, Russia has warned of unspecified military actions if Russia's demands aren't met.

There are three specific demands:

• The removal of NATO troops from Eastern European countries

• A guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO

• A guarantee that NATO missile systems won't be installed near the Russian borders

Russia and UK Try to Talk, and Fail

Meanwhile, Russia and the United Kingdom tried their luck at talks aimed at peace.

As quoted in The Guardian, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, described his talks with the British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, like a conversation of "the mute with the deaf".

I’m honestly disappointed that our conversation turned out like the mute with the deaf. We appear to be listening but we’re not hearing anything. Our detailed explanations fell on unprepared ground.

Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Secretary of Russia

London has been warning Moscow for days of tough sanctions if the latter attacks Kyiv.

Lavrov, during a press conference in Moscow said he and Truss had found no trust or coming ground, and that the talks consisted merely of "slogans shouted from the tribunes".

He also complained that she kept repeating Britain's demand and refused to even listen to Russia's concerns.

Truss repeated what the UK and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have been saying for the past two weeks, that war would be the "disastrous for the Russian and Ukrainian people and for European security".

The British foreign secretary's trip to Moscow is part of the rapid fire diplomacy taking place in Europe at the moment.

French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin three times in the last few days alone.

He then went to Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week.

Boris Johnson visited the NATO headquarters on 10 February and said the crisis has reached its most dangerous moment, The Guardian report added.

This is probably the most dangerous moment. I would say that in the course of the next few days, in what is the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades, we’ve got to get it right.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will be in Moscow next week.

He also recently met Joe Biden in the US to discuss the Ukraine crisis and the oil pipeline - Nord Stream 2 - running from Russia to Germany that NATO allies could use as leverage over Russia.

(With inputs from NBC News and The Guardian)