Leave ‘immediately’, pro-Russians tell Kherson residents as attacks plunge Ukraine into darkness
- In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region – which it claims to have annexed in September – in efforts described as ‘deportations’ by Kyiv
- At least a million households in Ukraine are without electricity after Russia intensified strikes on power stations, water supply systems
Pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city “immediately” in the face of Kyiv’s advancing counter-offensive.
Kyiv’s forces have been advancing along the west bank of the Dnieper river, towards the Kherson region’s eponymous main city. The first major city to fall to Moscow’s troops, retaking it would be a key prize in Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region – which Moscow claims to have annexed in September – in efforts described as “deportations” by Kyiv.
“Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper river,” the region’s pro-Russian authorities said on social media.
A Moscow-installed official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday that around 25,000 people had made the crossing.
It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched 36 rockets overnight in a “massive attack” on Ukraine, following reported strikes on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country.