The latest on Ukraine and Russia tensions

The US State Department on Monday ordered the departure of family members of US government employees from the US Embassy in Belarus and warned American citizens not travel to the country amid an “unusual and concerning Russian military buildup along Belarus’ border with Ukraine.”

Last week, the State Department “authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. direct hire employees (USDH) and ordered the departure of eligible family members (EFM) from Embassy Kyiv due to the continued threat of Russian military action,” the alert said.

The diplomatic presence in Belarus is a mere handful of diplomats due to restrictions imposed by the government of Alexander Lukashenko. Last August, the Belarusian government told the US embassy in Minsk to reduce the number of staff to 5 people, and in October it forced the Embassy to close its Public Diplomacy and USAID offices and lay off more than 20 Belarusian staff effective November 20.

The ordered departure for family members comes the same day that US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US had seen evidence that Russia intends to mass more than 30,000 troops near the Belarus-Ukraine border, and that Moscow had “moved nearly 5,000 troops into Belarus, with short-range ballistic missiles, special forces, and anti-aircraft batteries.”

Russia has responded in writing to the United States’ written response to Moscow, a senior State Department official said.

The response from Moscow comes ahead of a planned phone conversation between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

The Washington Post first reported the development.

The Ukrainian interior ministry says the arrested leader of a group suspected of planning a violent protest in Kyiv has “strong links” to Russian-backed rebels in the breakaway east of the country.

Speaking to CNN, Ukraine’s First Deputy Interior Minister, Eugene Yenin, said the man had been a prominent fighter in the Vostok Battalion of rebels, formed to battle government forces in 2014.

Yenin told CNN three people – all Ukrainian citizens – had so far been arrested as part of what he described as a “plot to destabilize the country”.

He said that a search for evidence was now underway, as well as interrogations, to establish a firm Russian link to the plot. But he admitted that process may be hard as “President Putin doesn’t leave a business card,” he said.  

As well as the planned protest in Kyiv, outside the presidential office, Yenin told CNN similar protests had been planned in cities across the country, especially near Russian border areas.

Yenin told CNN that Russian-backed groups frequently carry out “subversive acts” in Ukraine, including criminal activity, and provoking public disorder.

As US Senate negotiators move closer on a deal on a bipartisan sanctions package, the Biden administration is making additional trips to Capitol Hill to detail the situation in Ukraine. 

The Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have classified briefings on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter — a day before the full House and Senate are also briefed on the matter.

More on the sanctions package: Sens. Bob Menendez and Jim Risch, the two top senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday they are confident they will get a bipartisan deal on Russian sanctions as the Senate comes back from recess this week.

On the package, Menendez, who chairs the committee, said some sanctions could happen upfront and others would go into effect if Russia were to invade Ukraine.

Risch, a Republican from Idaho, said a major sticking point in negotiations for the economic sanctions package continues to be the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, an undersea pipeline set to deliver gas from Russia to Germany.

CNN's Daniella Diaz contributed reporting to this post.

Watch Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) share with CNN's John King what Congress is doing to discourage Russia from invading Ukraine:

Ukraine has received a fifth weapons supply shipment from the United States, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet on Monday.

"The 5th bird in Kyiv! Another 84 tons of ammunition of various calibers! In the next few days we are waiting for the next cargo of defense weaponry from our friends from the USA," Reznikov wrote.  

The first shipment of security assistance from the US had arrived in Ukraine on January 21.

The State Department said Monday that they estimate there are 6,600 private US citizens residing in Ukraine as of October 2021.

The department is continually reaching out to urge the 6,600 to leave Ukraine, according to Price, including “in recent hours.”

Price also said that before Russia’s military buildup began, the US Embassy in Kyiv estimated there could be 16,000 US tourists or visitors in Ukraine, but that given the State Department warnings against traveling to Ukraine that began that month, the State Department’s “best assessment is that that number is much, much lower now.”

Additional context: Earlier this month, the State Department announced it would reduce staff levels at the US Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, beginning with the departure of nonessential staff and family members.

The Pentagon continues to see “even over the course of the weekend” additional Russian troops moving “in again around Belarus and around the border with Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a news briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.

Russia is also increasing its “naval activity in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic,” Kirby said, which the Pentagon is “watching… pretty closely.”

Both the added ground troops in Belarus and near the Ukrainian border as well as the Russian fleet vessels at sea are creating “options available to Mr. Putin,” Kirby said.

Putin “continues to create more options for himself from a military perspective,” Kirby said. “Again we want to see him exercise a diplomatic option, which oh by the way is also still open to him.”

The US also continues to send “security assistance material” to Ukrainian armed forces with a recent shipment that arrived Friday, Kirby said.

“We’ll have more in the coming days, and it’s why we have trainers on the ground to help improve the competence and the confidence of Ukrainian armed forces,” Kirby said.

Here's a look at Russian military presence near the Ukrainian border:

President Biden told reporters Monday the US remains “ready no matter what happens,” as Russia continues to ramp up aggression towards Ukraine.

In remarks earlier Monday, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that Russia’s actions “not only threatens Ukraine, it also threatens Europe,” calling it “crucial” that the UN security Council “address the risk that their aggressive and destabilizing behavior poses across the globe.”

“We continue to urge diplomacy as the best way forward,” Biden told reporters Monday, “But, with Russia continuing its build up around Ukraine, we are ready no matter what happens.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed “the positive progress” made in talks about the Ukraine situation within the Normandy format in a phone call Monday, according to a readout of the call from the Elysee Palace.  

The so-called Normandy Format is a four-way conversation between representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France that has been trying to broker peace in eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Monday's call was part of the “same logic of de-escalation” the French readout said, and the Russian and French presidents wish “to continue the dialogue in this framework.” 

This is Macron’s second call with Putin since Friday. He also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.  

The Elysee Palace confirmed Monday that President Macron has a long-standing invitation from President Putin to visit Russia, but added that while such a visit “is not excluded, there is no date fixed currently.”  

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Ukraine on Feb. 7 and 8, a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry told CNN Monday.