The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, during the evacuation of its own embassy from Kyiv before the Russian invasion, did not evacuate the Ukrainian diplomatic staff. At the same time, the department was aware of the danger that threatened them since they worked in the embassy of a Western country.
Global Mail writes about it.
Despite the obvious danger, Ottawa ordered embassy officials in Kyiv to withhold this information from Ukrainian employees and leave them alone. Three Canadian diplomats with direct knowledge of what happened said they were concerned about how Canada left its Ukrainian staff at risk.
In January, according to sources, diplomats working at the embassy in Kyiv received a secret letter from the intelligence alliance known as the Five Eyes (the other members are the United States, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand), in which it was said that Russia is not bluffing about its intention to invade Ukraine. There was also other information — Russia had prepared lists of Ukrainians whom, according to the alliance, Moscow intended to persecute, detain, or possibly even kill. Although it was unclear whose names appeared on the lists, diplomats were told that Ukrainians who worked for Western embassies in Kyiv were likely to be included.
"Approximately 50 Ukrainian employees, many of whom had worked with Canadians at the embassy for years, were left to fend for themselves, unaware of the risk," the publication said.
Two senior Canadian foreign affairs officials told them the government had no responsibility to local workers in this situation and that Ottawa did not want to set a precedent of protecting local embassy staff.
Canadian diplomats in the embassy left first for Lviv, and then for Poland, a few hours after the start of the Russian invasion. Ukrainian embassy officials were outraged when they learned that United States embassy officials had told some of their local staff about Russian target lists and helped some of them flee Ukraine.