Sat 22 October 2022:
On Saturday, residents of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, were ordered to leave the city immediately by authorities installed by Russia.
The order was cited as being the result of the “tense military situation.”
After warnings of an impending Ukrainian offensive to retake the city, thousands of civilians have been crossing the Dnipro River for days. However, the warning on Saturday was given with a renewed sense of urgency.
“Due to the tense situation at the front, the increased danger of massive shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left (east) bank of the Dnipro!” said a statement posted on Telegram.
“Take care of the safety of your family and friends! Do not forget documents, money, valuables and clothes.”
The statement said all departments and ministries of the Russian-installed administration in Kherson should also leave. It urged people to board river boats across the Dnipro.
One of the most important battles of the eight-month-old war is coming to a head near Kherson as Ukrainian forces advance along the Dnipro’s west bank, aiming to recapture the city and encircle thousands of Russian troops.
Ukraine has imposed an information blackout from the Kherson front, but Russian commander General Sergei Surovikin said this week the situation in Kherson was “already difficult” and Russia was “not ruling out difficult decisions” there.
The Russian defense ministry said its forces had thwarted an attempt by the Ukrainians to cross its control line in the Kherson region during a briefing on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify any battlefield assertions.
Since its invasion on February 24, Russia has only successfully captured and held Kherson, the provincial capital. Kherson was one of four areas that President Vladimir Putin declared Moscow would “forever” claim as its own last month.
In order to defend the territory that Russia claims as its own, Putin has stated that he is willing to use nuclear weapons. The United Nations General Assembly, Ukraine, and its allies all denounced the declared annexation as unlawful.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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