“All signs indicate that Russia is planning an all-out attack on Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told German ARD television on Saturday (19).
“We can all agree that the risk of attack is very high,” said Stoltenberg, who attended the Munich security conference.
NATO said it was moving its personnel from Kiev to Lviv, western Ukraine, or to Brussels, where it is located, as a “security” measure.
Several Western countries have already done the same, moving their diplomats from Kiev to Lviv, which is close to the Polish border.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he was confident that Russia would invade Ukraine.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and has no coalition forces in that country, but since the 1990s it has maintained two offices in the capital: a liaison office and an information and documentation center.
The role of the Liaison Office is to maintain dialogue between NATO and the Ukrainian government, while promoting the democratic transformation of Ukraine’s defense and security sector.
The Information and Documentation Center will inform the Ukrainian public about NATO and support Ukrainian institutions in their communications.
Stoltenberg has assured in recent weeks that the coalition would not send any Ukrainian forces to defend against any Russian aggression.
But NATO members have sent military forces to neighboring countries that are members of the alliance.
In addition, Stoltenberg stated that member states would react strongly to any Russian aggression in these regions under the principle of collective defence.
