“In October, the estimate was that there were 6,600 US citizens residing in Ukraine,” Price said during a press briefing on Monday. “Now our embassy also estimated in October, before Russia's military buildup began, that at any given point in time, there could be 16,000 US citizens, tourists and visitors in Ukraine.”
The administration assesses that this number is much lower today, several months later after multiple US government advisories to leave Ukraine amid an alleged threat of Russian aggression, Price added.
Last week, The US embassy in Kiev issued several warnings advising US citizens to leave Ukraine due to the unpredictable security situation and recommended a number of possible destinations.
In recent months, Western countries have accused Russia of a troop buildup near a border with Ukraine with plans to attack its neighbor. Moscow has dismissed the claims, which it considers to be a pretext for NATO military deployment on Russia's borders and plans to expand further eastward.
The tensions escalated since last week, as NATO began deploying additional troops to the Russian-Ukrainian border in anticipation of the alleged invasion. Russia said it deems the move to be a pretext for a provocation and for Kiev’s plans to sabotage the Minsk agreements on the resolution of the conflict in the Donbas breakaway region.