Pavel Polityuk, Anton Zverev

KYIV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters). The United States directed some embassy staff members to leave Ukraine Saturday because of a Russian military buildup. However, two sources claimed that Washington also wanted to withdraw its personnel from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Tensions are building in the wake of a Russian military presence near an ex-Soviet neighbor. This has fueled fears that Russia might attack. Washington declared Friday that it could happen at any time. Russia has denied such plans.

“Today, the @StateDept  ordered non-emergency U.S. employees at the Embassy to depart due to  continued reports of a Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine, indicating potential for significant military action,” the embassy said.

The statement stated that the core staff of embassy and Ukrainian counterparts would still work despite the decrease in diplomatic staff.

Friday’s United States appeal to citizens living in Ukraine was a call for them to move. The United States stated it won’t send any troops to assist with their evacuation if they are involved in conflict. A number of countries, including Australia and Japan, have also encouraged their citizens to flee the country.

Russia has been accused of lying by the West and said that it was now planning to optimize its Ukrainian diplomatic staff, in spite of being threatened with “provocations” from Kyiv or any other party.

Moscow didn’t say whether this meant that there was a decrease in staff, but stated that the Ukrainian embassy and consulates continued to fulfill their core functions.

Separately, Reuters was informed by two diplomat sources that the United States had announced its intention to immediately appoint staff members at the OSCE in Ukraine.

An OSCE request for comment was not answered.

OSCE has operations in Ukraine, including civilian monitoring missions in Russia-backed separatist republics. The mission is located in Ukraine’s East where the conflict that broke out in 2014 claimed more than 14,000 lives.

A source said on condition that anonymity they believed other nations would soon make similar evacuations.

The two sources told Reuters that Britain had decided to move its members of the OSCE from the rebel-held regions of Ukraine to the government-controlled area.