NYT:

  • On Jan. 5, 18 people — mostly the children and wives of Russian diplomats — boarded buses and embarked on a 15-hour drive home to Moscow, according to a senior Ukrainian security official.
  • About 30 more followed in the next few days, from Kyiv and a consulate in Lviv, in western Ukraine.
  • Diplomats at two other Russian consulates have been told to prepare to leave Ukraine, the security official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters.

More at that link above, including the open-ended analysis of the movement:

  • may be part propaganda, part preparation for a conflict or part feint, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say. It could be all three.

Tension between NATO and Russia do not look like diminishing any time soon.

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Related to this, the United Kingdom has announced (overnight) it will send MBT LAW (NLAW) anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. UK C-17s have been ferrying in the anti-tank weapons.