BRITS currently in Ukraine are being told to flee the country over the imminent threat of a Russian invasion.

The Foreign Office updated its advice on Friday evening to urge UK nationals to ‘leave now while commercial means are still available’ as fears grow that Russia could launch an invasion in the coming days.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has amassed an estimated 130,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and experts on the ground have suggested an invasion is highly likely.

It comes after Boris Johnson expressed his fears for the security of Europe during a call which included US President Joe Biden.

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said an invasion could come “at any time”, and President Biden’s security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also said an attack was a ‘very, very distinct possibility’.

Mr Sullivan added that a Russian invasion of Ukraine before the end of the winter Olympics on February 20 was ‘credible prospect’.

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In what the Americans are now describing as an ‘immediate threat’, their citizens are also being told leave the country alongside Brits in the next 24-48 hours.

Western leaders remain unsure if President Putin has made a final decision, but the Russian military’s presence would suggest that the invasion could come any day.

Ukraine’s capital could be part of the firing line in the invasion as Mr Sullivan also said a ‘rapid assault’ on the city would be part of the major military operation.

In a call lasting around 80 minutes, Downing Street said Mr Johnson urged Nato allies to make it clear to Moscow there is a “heavy package of economic sanctions ready to go”.

The call included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, as well as EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.

Mr Johnson warned that the penalties would be “extremely damaging” to Russia’s economy and urged that allies must reinforce Nato’s eastern frontiers.

The Foreign Office said: “British nationals in Ukraine should leave now while commercial means are still available.”

Some British embassy staff and their families were being withdraw from Kyiv.

Britons were warned by the Foreign Office that they should not expect help evacuating in the event of an invasion.

Earlier in the day, Mr Wallace held talks in Moscow with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu as part of diplomatic efforts to avert war.

“Currently there’s over 130,000 troops stationed at readiness or exercising – plus warplanes, plus ships into the Black Sea – on the borders of Ukraine and that is an action that is not normal,” Mr Wallace told a news conference in the British embassy.

“It is beyond normal exercising therefore we will judge that statement on the evidence.”

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Following a frosty meeting in Moscow on Thursday between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and her counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Mr Wallace said his discussions with Mr Shoigui had been “frank and constructive”.

While he said that he took the minister’s assurances “seriously”, he admitted he was less optimistic than he had been previously that there could be a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

He said the current disposition of Russian forces meant they could do “a whole range of actions, including an invasion of a neighbouring country, at any time”.