After forcibly evicting Ukrainian citizens, the Russian army occupies apartments in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, a resident of that place told the Associated Press (AP) news agency on Friday.
“They are forcing the townspeople out. Russian soldiers have taken up residence in vacant apartments in the city of Kherson. It is clear that they are preparing to fight against the Ukrainian army in the city.”said the resident, who for security reasons only introduced himself as Konstantin.
According to Konstantin, Russian soldiers are settling in vacant apartments, going door to door, checking title deeds and forcing tenants to leave immediately if they cannot confirm ownership of the homes.
Residents also reported food supply problems, adding that hospitals and clinics are not seeing patients in Kherson.
“There are almost no food deliveries in town, residents use their own ‘stock’ and queue for the few stores that are still open”Constantin emphasized.
Military intelligence spreading about Kherson City suggests that Russia may be preparing for urban warfare, anticipating Ukrainian advances.
Russian forces have asked civilians living in Kherson to leave the city, which lies on the right bank of the Dnieper River and has been cut off from access to essential goods and food by Ukrainian bombing.
The pro-Russian deputy administrator of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, reiterated the request to civilians to leave for the left bank of the river.
On Thursday, Stremousov said Russian troops could soon withdraw from the city of Kherson, but this Friday he said the statement was just an attempt to encourage urban evacuation.
In turn, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, indicated that the Russians were pretending to withdraw from Kherson to recruit the Ukrainian army.
Zelensky called attempts to persuade civilians to stay in the Russian-controlled area “theatre”.
Russian forces captured the city of Kherson in late February in the first phase of the military offensive in Ukraine.
At the end of September, Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporijia and declared martial law in the four provinces.
The pro-Russian government in Kherson has already evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from the city, citing the threat of increasing bombing as the Ukrainian military continues its counter-offensive.
Authorities removed the Russian flag from the administration building on Thursday.
South Ukraine’s military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk warned that removing the flag could be a trap and said Ukrainians should not be “rushed” to celebrate.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already resulted in more than 13 million people having fled — more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.7 million to European countries — according to the latest UN data, which ranks this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and Russia of political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 6,430 dead civilians and 9,865 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, stressing that these numbers are far below the actual number.
Source: DN
