A SCOT living in Ukraine told of his fears of “chaos” as UK citizens were urged to flee the country, following warnings that Russia is poised to attack at any time.
Businessman Stuart McKenzie said he was worried a mass exodus of people from the country would lead to panicked scenes on the border.
Western governments, including the UK, have told their citizens to leave as soon as possible amid fears Russia could invade in the coming days. Russia has denied any plans to invade Ukraine while massing more than 130,000 troops near the border.
The Foreign Office said British expats should “leave now while commercial means are still available”.
READ MORE: UK nationals told to flee Ukraine as Putin 'tells Russian military to invade'
Minister for Armed Forces, James Heappey, warned the UK will not be able to fly UK citizens out of the country if Russia invades.
He said: “There will be a big difference between what they may have seen on their TV screens in Afghanistan over the summer and what may happen over the next week or so, and that is why the Royal Air Force will not be in a position to go in and fly people out – so they need to leave now by commercial means, or drive out of Ukraine into a neighbouring country.”
McKenzie, who lives in Kyiv, said he was hoping to drive out of the country, but was worried roads could be closed off and flights grounded if the situation deteriorated.
He told BBC Breakfast: “With young children in the country, I’ve got to take their safety as a priority, so we’re definitely looking at how to get them out as soon as possible.
“So many people are trying to leave at the same time and there won’t be flights, the roads will be blocked, are you going to be able to get fuel for your car? Is there going to be cash in the banking machines? There could be so many things happening, so much chaos happening.”
He added: “Day to day, people are trying to get on with their lives, however, every day it seems that there’s more and more threats and we hear as soon as next week we could have Russian troops in the country. These things can go out of control very fast, so we’ve got to be on the right side of the chaos, because to think of a border with a million cars and panic happening would be disastrous.”
Passengers arrived at Gatwick Airport on a direct flight from the Ukrainian capital shortly after noon yesterday, just hours after the Foreign Office warning suggested there were mixed signals about the level of concern in the country about the threat of war.
Haider Ali, a 21-year-old student from Birmingham, said: “I’d been in two minds about coming back because of the advice coming out of the British Embassy, about the amber alert, red alert.
“A lot of people, a lot of students were waiting for the red alert, and it happened yesterday.
“Once that happened, everybody booked their tickets and left as soon as possible.”
British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, was remaining with a “core team” in Kyiv, but some embassy staff and their families were being withdrawn.
Armed Forces minister Heappey rejected a call from Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Prystaiko for Britain to send combat troops to Ukraine to deter an attack.
READ MORE: Ukraine speeches show need for indy
“Putin and his colleagues would very much like to be able to say what they may do is a consequence of Western aggression in Ukraine,” he commented.
“So it’s very important to us, to everybody involved frankly, that we’re very clear we won’t play an active part in Ukraine.”
He added UK personnel sent to train Ukrainians to use British-supplied anti-tank missiles will be “leaving over the course of the weekend”.
The Foreign Office’s order to British nationals in Ukraine, thought to number in the low thousands, was issued on Friday night, as intelligence and advice from experts on the ground suggested an increased threat of attack by Russia.
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