Foreign Affairs ministry says too early to pull embassy staff from Ukraine

The Netherlands currently does not see any reason to remove embassy staff from Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"We are constantly monitoring developments and are constantly weighing up what steps we need to take," the ministry said. "Of course, we will consider whether there are grounds to let embassy employees leave. At the moment, there is no reason to do so," the spokesperson said.

The Dutch embassy is located in Kyiv, 150 kilometers south of its northern border with Belarus and around 240 kilometers away from the Russian border. The Netherlands also has a consulate in Lviv, near the country's western border with Poland.

The US State Department has urged relatives of embassy employees to leave Ukraine, according to Fox News, amid rising tensions at the Russian border. Bild also reported that Germany is preparing for possible evacuation. Russia has around 100,000 troops stationed at Ukraine's border, which are ready to attack at any moment, US officials stated, according to the Guardian.

British intelligence services reported that Russia is trying to help a pro-Russian politician into office in Ukraine. Russia has denied the accusation saying it was "false information."

Orange travel advice applies to most of Ukraine due to tensions with Russia and the coronavirus situation. Orange travel advice means that trips that are not strictly necessary are discouraged. For the conflict areas of Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea, the travel advice is red, which means that all travel there is discouraged.