Kyiv calls on Ukrainians to leave Russia ‘immediately’

Ukraine's foreign ministry has warned the country's nationals not to visit Russia and urged its citizens already there to leave the country immediately.

The announcement comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized eastern Ukraine's two breakaway territories and ordered Russian troops to "maintain peace" there, reports The Moscow Times.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it issued the recommendation "due to increased Russian aggression against Ukraine which, among other things, may lead to a significant restriction of the ability to provide consular assistance" to Ukrainians in Russia.

More than 2.5 million Ukrainian citizens are estimated to be living in Russia.

Around the same time, Ukraine's military said it has started calling up reservists aged 18-60 for up to one year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Tuesday he was considering cutting diplomatic ties with Russia over its recognition of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

Putin signed military cooperation treaties with Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatists and dispatched so-called "peacekeepers" to Donetsk and Luhansk, while Russian senators green-lighted Putin's request to deploy troops there. 

The United States, which along with its Western allies announced a new package of sanctions on Russia, described those moves as "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it planned to evacuate its diplomatic staff from Ukraine "in the near future" because they had received threats and were under "repeated attacks."

Several Western embassies have relocated from Kyiv to the city of Lviv near the Polish border, as the U.S. and its allies have for months accused Russia of planning an attack on Ukraine.