THE SQUIZ
Australia has joined the US, UK and several Western nations in telling its citizens to leave Ukraine now because of fears that a Russian invasion could be launched this week. Our officials are in the process of being evacuated from the Aussie embassy in Kyiv and moved to the Ukraine city of Lviv, which is further from the Russian border. Russia is also reducing its diplomatic presence in Kyiv, saying it fears “certain provocations” from Ukraine and “third nations”. All in all, the situation in the eastern European nation is “reaching a very dangerous stage,” PM Scott Morrison said yesterday.

DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?
On Thursday, Russia started 10 days of joint military exercises with its neighbour/ally Belarus, and Western officials say that could become a cover for Moscow to invade. And on Friday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that there is a “distinct possibility” Russia will invade Ukraine in a “very swift time frame.” He wouldn’t get into the details, but said “I do want to be clear: it could begin during the Olympics, despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after the Olympics.” Reports say the US has pegged 16 February as the date things will kick-off. For Russia’s part, it says the US is building up “hysteria”. The escalation in tensions saw US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin get on the blower for an hour-long chat yesterday – officials say no progress was made. European leaders are continuing to engage with Putin in the hope of preventing the crisis from deepening.

SO IS RUSSIA GOING TO INVADE?
Dunno, but as this map shows Russia is positioned to go… And while the US can’t be sure about Putin’s plan, it is doing something unusual by telegraphing what it thinks he is going to do. Biden says America will not send troops to Ukraine if it is invaded, but officials say they are trying to prevent a war by going public with the intelligence. That way, they are making it “more difficult for Putin to justify an invasion with lies, undercutting his standing on the global stage and building support for a tougher response,” reports the New York Times. The US isn’t the first to play that game… Last month, UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss disclosed intel that Team Putin was planning on overthrowing the Ukrainian Government to install a Russia-friendly regime.