Russian occupation authorities in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, announced on Tuesday that they had begun withdrawing thousands of additional people from the region, where Ukrainian troops are carrying out a military counteroffensive.
“We are going to resettle and relocate up to 70,000 people” who are currently in a 15-kilometer strip to the east on the left bank of the Dnieper River, Moscow’s stationed governor in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, told Russian radio. Soloviov Viver program.
Last week, the Russian occupation forces announced that 70,000 civilians had left residences located to the west on the right bank of the river and closer to the front line.
Saldo said that the new withdrawal operations were decided due to the risk of a “possible missile attack” against a dam located on the river and whose destruction would cause the “flooding of the left bank.”
“We have already started” these new operations and the people will be transported to places further away from Kherson or to “other regions of Russia”, Saldo said, without elaborating.
On Monday night, Saldo said the withdrawal would also allow the Russian army to mount a “defense to repel the Ukrainian attack,” alluding to the possibility of kyiv’s forces crossing the Dnipro.
The Kherson region is partially controlled by Russia, which in October annexed the part it conquered, along with three other areas of Ukraine under its control.
Ukrainian troops have been conducting an offensive for several weeks to retake the Kherson region, advancing from west to east.
In mid-October, due to the territorial gains made by the Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian occupation authorities asked the inhabitants of the right bank to leave their houses to cross the river.
However, in kyiv, the supply of water and electricity has been “fully restored” throughout the city, a day after Russian attacks hit distribution plants, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said in the Telegram social network.
Intensive Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have deprived 80% of the city’s inhabitants of water and cut power to 350,000 homes.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.7 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by President Vladimir Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was widely condemned by the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,430 civilian deaths and 9,865 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
