“All State Dept personnel are out of Ukraine now, relocated to a hotel in Poland, I’m told. The US alerted high-ranking Ukrainian officials beforehand. They also notified other allies, but unclear if those embassies electing to follow suit,” Jennifer Jacobs, a Senior White House reporter for Bloomberg News tweeted on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, columns of military vehicles including tanks were seen early Tuesday on the outskirts of Donetsk, Reuters reports.

“About five tanks in a column on the edge of the city and two more in another part of town, although no insignia were visible,” Reuters reporter added.