united states was very fast to come out and say that any rolling of the border by russian tanks would constitute an invasion, any land grab big or small would constitute an invasion and would carry those consequences that the u.s. has threatened. the whole world is on edge at this moment and waiting to see what the u.s. and its allies are willing to do if and when russia does choose to attack ukraine. lieutenant general, if the u.s. state department does, in fact, move out nonessential personnel and their family members, is this kind of catch-22? does it send a certain message to russia that perhaps it does have the upper hand in this? i don t think so, fred. this is a normal situation. if any kind of tensions develop in any countries and i ve been involved in several of those in europe when i commanded there, the state department moves out their nonessentials. it s just the family members, you know, the dependents and others who aren t contributing to the day-to-day operations in
nonessential personnel and mandatory for family members. also u.s. citizen and ukraine should begin deporting now using the available options, all comes on the backdrop of a major russian escalation on the borders that sparked fears of an invasion. the department saying that in their explanation, the move is coming because there are reports that russia is planning significant military action against ukraine and the security conditions, particularly around ukraine s borders in russia-occupied crimea and east ukraine are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice and when things turn violent at times regular have happened in ukraine along, in kiev. also requested the state department authorize departure of nonessential state and families and told cnn as well,
president is doing now is not calibrated correctly? i think it s fine that we put u.s. forces on alert. shorten the lead time that if they needed to be sent to europe they could be. i think that s just fine. i think it would be premature to send them to europe since one of the things we re messaging to putin is essentially, if you go into ukraine, one of the ways you will pay a price is nato will be reinforced close to your borders in places like poland or hungary. he doesn t want it. so it seems to me the threat of doing that is one of the pieces of leverage i wouldn t the government in ukraine is not happy that the united states and a couple other western countries are drawing down families of nonessential personnel from the embassies. they say it sends the wrong signal at this time. but as joe biden tries to be ukraine s friend he also has to worry about those americans, doesn t he? sure. and it s tough. look, the u.s./ukraine
the state department ordering to evacuate ukraine. carley: russian attack on its neighbor could be eminent and russia says it will respond appropriately if the u.s. deploys more troops to the region. steve carrigan is live in kiev, what is the latest? steve: the state department in ukraine telling american citizens it is time to leave this country. there will be no airlift possible, no evacuation of u.s. citizens if russia does invain ukraine. they are ordering out family members of embassy staff and authorizing evacuation of nonseshl nonessential personnel. president pied is considering deploying troops to eastern europe. nato decided to send war plains and aircraft to the region. ammunition continues to arrive to ukraine. second shipment this weekend, 80
live on the ground in kiev, steve, what is the latest? steve: the u.s. embassy in ukraine telling americans, it is time to leave ukraine. they ordered out family members of embassy personnel and authorizing nonessential personnel to leave and warned american citizens in ukraine, there will be no airlift of american citizens in event of a u.s. invasion. period biden considering deploying 3 to 5000 u.s. troops in eastern europe. nato will deploy ships and fighter jets as more ammunition continues to arrive in ukraine from the u.s. 80 tons arrived over the weekend according to officials. officials continue to insist there will be no preempative sanctions against russia. the purpose of the sanctions is to deter russian aggression