Ukraine tensions: Countries tell nationals to leave over Russia threat

A host of countries have urged their nationals to leave Ukraine, amid warnings of a Russian invasion.

The British foreign office said all UK nationals "should leave now while commercial means are still available".

The US has said an invasion could come at any time, with President Biden warning that "things could go crazy quickly".

Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops near the border.

The Kremlin says it wants to enforce "red lines" to make sure that its former Soviet neighbour does not join Nato.

Among those countries calling on its citizens to leave are the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea. In its warning Latvia cited "a serious threat to security posed by Russia".

Diplomatic efforts are under way to defuse the current crisis Ukraine.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned his counterpart in Moscow that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would have "tragic consequences" for both countries. But Sergei Shogiu said growing military tensions in Europe were "not our fault".

The current tensions come eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. Since then, Ukraine's military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in eastern areas near Russia's borders.

Moscow says it cannot accept that Ukraine - a former Soviet republic with deep social and cultural ties with Russia - could one day join the Western defence alliance Nato and has demanded that this be ruled out.

Russia has been backing a bloody armed rebellion in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region since 2014. Some 14,000 people - including many civilians - have died in fighting since then.

There is some suggestion that a renewed focus on the so-called Minsk agreements - which sought to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine - could be used as a basis to defuse the current crisis.

Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany backed the accords in 2014-2015.