Russian occupation officials in Kherson have said they are evacuating across the Dnieper river and have urged thousands of local residents to do the same, in a move Ukraine called a “propaganda show” and scare tactic as its forces bid to retake the region.
Sergei Surovikin, commander of Moscow’s forces in Ukraine, said the situation in Kherson was “very difficult”, as Russian president Vladimir Putin declared martial law in occupied parts of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – regions the Kremlin claims to have annexed − and put Russian provinces and their economies on a stronger war footing.
Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed governor in Kherson, said he had taken the “difficult but correct” decision to order residents of four areas on the western bank of the Dnieper to evacuate to the eastern side, where they would be given accommodation elsewhere in occupied Ukraine or in Russia.
“Our key task is to save human lives and allow the troops of the Russian Federation to effectively do their jobs to protect the Kherson region. We will take the civilian population to the [eastern] bank in an organised, step-by-step way,” Mr Saldo said, accusing Ukraine of planning to blow up a Dnieper dam that could flood parts of the province.
“According to our estimates, we are planning to relocate 50,000 to 60,000 people to the [eastern] bank or to other Russian regions,” he added, while insisting that “Kherson region remains under the reliable protection of the Russian army.”
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He did not announce the evacuation of residents from Kherson city – the only regional capital Russia has taken since launching its all-invasion of Ukraine in February – but revealed that occupation officials would be moving across the river.
“All the ruling authorities located in the city, the civilian-military administration, all departments, all ministries will also go to the [eastern] bank. Governance at this time will be conducted from the [eastern] bank of our Kherson region,” he said.
Russia’s hold on Kherson has become increasingly tenuous as Ukraine used western-supplied artillery and rocket systems to target its arms and fuel depots and command posts in the region and to badly damage or destroy bridges over the Dnieper, complicating Moscow’s efforts to resupply its military and hampering any plans for retreat.
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Kyiv says its forces are advancing in Kherson – having ousted Russian troops from the northeastern Kharkiv region last month – but dismissed Moscow’s claims that they will fire indiscriminately at towns and cities they intend to liberate.
“The Russians are trying to scare the people of Kherson with fake leaflets about the shelling of the city by our army, and they also arrange a propaganda show with evacuation,” said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“It’s a rather primitive tactic, given that the Ukrainian armed forces do not fire at Ukrainian cities – this is done solely by the Russian terrorists,” he added, as Kyiv and other government-controlled cities endured another wave of Russian missile and drone strikes.
Mr Zelenskiy has said Russian air strikes this month have destroyed 30 per cent of Ukraine’s power stations, in attacks that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described on Wednesday as “war crimes” and “acts of pure terror”.
As well as declaring martial law in four Ukrainian provinces that Russia now claims to possess, Mr Putin also gave more powers to governors of Russian regions to boost security, tighten controls over society and give more economic support to the war effort.
