Australians urged to leave Ukraine now as conflict fears grow

The federal government is warning Australians in Ukraine to flee as soon as possible.

The Australian Government updated its travel advice to Ukraine to “do not travel” on Monday night. Dependants of embassy staff in Kyiv have also been told to leave the country.

The Australian government warns flights could be suspended at short notice.

It comes as an estimated 127,000 Russian troops amass along the Ukraine border, and fears of an invasion are mounting.

NATO is putting extra forces on standby and sending more ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe. The US is also considering sending warships and aircraft, and Australia is negotiating new measures to help the Ukraine government protect itself from cyber attacks.

Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University, Brian Taylor, says there “probably will be some kind of Russian military activity in Ukraine”, but he doesn’t expect it to happen this week.

“I expect that we’re still at least several weeks away from that,” he told Ross and Russel.

“It may not come to pass at all but if it does come to pass I’m not expecting it in the next week.”

Russia claims its stationing of troops on the Ukrainian border is related to NATO’s eastward expansion, but Professor Taylor says that doesn’t add up.

While NATO in 2008 flagged Ukraine would get membership in the future, it’s never followed through on it because the alliance is divided on whether or not Ukraine is close to ready to become a NATO member.

“In that sense, the urgency we’re seeing from the Russian side is a bit mysterious because there was no plan to bring Ukraine into NATO any time soon,” Professor Taylor said.

“I think this is really an issue about Vladimir Putin and feeling like this is one of his big foreign policy priorities.

“The guy has been in power for over 20 years and this is something where whatever he has tried has made things worse for him, and so there’s a fear he’s gambling on a big sort of military occupation to try and change Ukraine’s trajectory.”

Press PLAY below to hear what Professor Taylor thinks will happen on the Ukraine/Russia border

Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images