Foreign Ministry Issues Fresh Call for Israelis in Ukraine to Leave

The Foreign Ministry on the weekend issued a fresh call for Israelis in Ukraine to immediately leave the country, amid growing Western warnings of a looming Russian invasion.

The ministry made the appeal after holding a situational assessment and following talks that Director-General Alon Ushpiz held with unspecified figures at the Munich Security Conference.

A Foreign Ministry statement also cited “the events in eastern Ukraine,” apparently referring to intensifying clashes there between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.

“An eruption [of war] will be quick and severe,” the statement said.

The ministry said it decided to keep Israeli Ambassador Michael Brodsky in Kyiv to assist Israelis seeking to leave. He and embassy staff will open the consular section on Sunday “to provide travel documents to citizens that require this,” according to the statement.

The Foreign Ministry also said it was keeping tabs on the decisions by the U.S. and Britain to move their embassies in Kyiv to the city of Lviv, “with the aim of safeguarding the lives of the State of Israel’s envoys in Ukraine while providing a response to Israeli citizens.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning for Ukraine last weekend and urged Israelis in the country to immediately leave, a call repeated throughout the week by Israeli officials. These pleas have been met with a mixed response.