Israel has ordered the evacuation of its embassy in Kyiv, instructing its staff to relocate to Lviv in Western Ukraine, the Israel Foreign Ministry announced on Monday, amid concerns of further military aggression from Russia. Lviv is located about 50 miles from Ukraine’s western border with Poland. Russia has denied it has any plans to invade Ukraine, and has accused western allies of NATO expansion threatening Moscow’s security as Ukraine seeks to be granted membership. However, just hours after the evacuation order, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was moving to recognize the “independence” of two regions in Eastern Ukraine—the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held by pro-Russia separatist groups. He then signed a decree to authorize that Russian military troops can be ordered into the two areas, located in Ukraine’s Donbas region, for so-called “peacekeeping operations.” According to Ukraine, pro-Russian forces have already been active in the Donbas since the Crimean crisis in 2014. …
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