‘Save your lives,’ Russia tells Kherson civilians as battle looms | Russia-Ukraine war News

About 25,000 residents left the Russian-occupied city on ferries and buses amid fears of an impending Ukrainian attack.

Russia has called on people in occupied Kherson to flee for a living ahead of an expected Ukraine pushes to recapture the southern city.

Russian-installed officials in southern Ukraine are trying Evacuate up to 60,000 people lives on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

Due to a sharp increase in the number of people wanting to leave the city, authorities reported a shortage of ships to take people across the river at one point on Sunday.

“The situation today is difficult,” Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said in a video message. “It’s important to save your life. Will not be long. You will definitely be back.”

Since Tuesday, about 25,000 people have been evacuated, the head of the Russian-installed region Kirill Stremousov said.

“We again recommend leaving the city and the west bank of Dnipro,” Stremousov said in a video message posted on Telegram. “We will not give up Kherson.”

He also said an improvised explosive device killed one person and injured another on Sunday.

‘Kherson will hold out’

Many Kherson residents pack up and get on boats or replace school buses to leave the city.

Vera, 44, who did not give her last name, said: “Of course we fear for our lives. “But I think everything will be fine. Kherson will hold out.”

Ukrainian and Western officials have expressed concern about the possibility of forced relocation of residents to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.

Kyiv urged Kherson residents to resist efforts to relocate them. A local official accused Moscow of wanting to take civilians hostage and use them as human shields.

In September, Ukraine launched counterattack to reclaim northern Kherson.

The Kherson area is located in the northern part of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. It is a strategically important area for Russian forces as it is a gateway to military supplies.

Russia capture the capital of the Kherson region in the early days of the war and occupied other parts in the months that followed.

Kherson is one of the four regions of President Vladimir Putin illegal annexation last month. On Thursday, he announced martial law in the areas as Ukrainian forces continued their counterattacks.

Ukraine’s advance in recent weeks around Kherson and in the northeast of the country has been met with an increase in Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure, which destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s electricity system before winter.

As the war is about to begin in the ninth month and winter is fast approaching, the possibility of misery is high.

Presidential adviser Kyrylo Tymoshenko said more than a million people have no power. An official in Kyiv said the attacks could leave Ukraine’s capital without electricity and heat for days or weeks.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, said on Sunday that Russia’s latest strategy to target power plants appears to be aimed at weakening Ukrainians’ will to fight and forcing the government to fight. in Kyiv must devote more resources to protecting civilians and energy. the infrastructure.

It said the effort was not likely to damage Ukrainian morale, but would have significant economic impacts.