Taipei-Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has advised Taiwanese nationals to leave Ukraine as soon as possible, after the United States warned that Russia could invade the Eastern European country soon.

In a press statement issued on Saturday, MOFA called on some 25 Taiwanese nationals who are currently living in Ukraine for their studies or work to leave the country as soon as possible, while also telling others to avoid traveling to the region.

MOFA’s advice came a day after U.S. officials cited intelligence as warning that a Russian invasion of the post-Soviet state was imminent.

“The Russians are in a position to be able to mount a major military action in Ukraine any day now,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to President Joe Biden, told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.

At the same time, however, American officials said it remained unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade, the New York Times reported.

A number of countries have also advised their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, including the U.S., Japan, and U.K. while western governments continue to seek talks with the Kremlin to defuse the tensions.

Russia has been building up military equipment and troops around Ukraine in recent months while making demands on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — an intergovernmental military alliance that involves the U.S., 27 European countries and others.

The demands include that NATO should agree to scale back its military presence in Eastern Europe to the 1990s levels and guarantee that Ukraine will never join the alliance. Both NATO and the U.S. have rejected those demands.

Taiwan’s MOFA added that it was opposed to any unilateral actions to use force to alter the status quo in the region, and that it called on relevant countries to resolve their disputes through dialogue and peaceful means.

According to MOFA, Ukraine-based Taiwanese nationals who need assistance can contact the Representative Office in Moscow for the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission, which is MOFA’s foreign mission that also handles Taiwan-Ukraine affairs.

They can also get in touch with the Taiwan Trade Center in Kyiv, which is organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), MOFA added.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel