The Armenian Embassy in Kyiv instead urged them to contact the mission and inform it about their whereabouts. It publicized emergency phone numbers on its website and social media accounts.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry indicated last week that despite the looming threat of a Russian invasion it has no plans to evacuate the embassy or the Armenian consulate general in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
The ministry said on Wednesday that Yerevan regards both Russia and Ukraine as “friendly countries” and hopes that they will resolve their standoff through “diplomatic dialogue.” It did not immediately react to what Russian President Vladimir Putin called "a special military operation" against Ukraine launched the following morning.
In a nationally televised speech early on Thursday, Putin sought to justify the offensive operation by claiming that he has to stop Ukraine from acquiring nuclear weapons and attacking two breakaway region in the eastern Donbass region which Moscow recognized as independent republics earlier this week.
UKRAINE -- CRIMEA -- A Russian armoured vehicle moves across the town of Armyansk, northern Crimea, early on February 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Moscow has launched a full-scale attack on his country, with missile attacks targeting “our military infrastructure” and border guards in several cities.
There was immediate and widespread condemnation from the West, with vows of new, tougher sanctions to be slapped on Moscow.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the action an “unprovoked and unjustified" attack on Ukraine and said the world would “hold Russia accountable.” The European Union likewise accused Moscow of “grossly violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability.”
UKRAINE - Cars drive towards the exit of Kyiv after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, February 24, 2022.
Ukraine is officially home to some 120,000 ethnic Armenians. According to the Union of Armenians of Ukraine, their actual number is much larger and only half of them are Ukrainian nationals.
Ruben Makarian, a representative of the union, spoke of a “first wave of panic” among Armenians living in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions making up Donbass.
“In the Lugansk region, local authorities announced an evacuation [of the population,]” Makarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service from Kyiv. “But there is no specific evacuation of local Armenians yet. I am in constant touch with the leaders of the [Armenian] community there.”
Regular flights between Yerevan and Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were cancelled on Thursday after Ukraine closed its airspace to commercial aircraft.