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Moscow’s armed forces have encouraged Ukrainians in the Russian-controlled district of Kherson to evacuate as Kyiv’s counter-offensive advances on the city. Vladimir Putin’s forces have already sacrificed thousands of kilometres of occupied territory after Ukraine’s army liberated key strongholds from Russian troops. Video footage from within Kherson captured a loudspeaker announcement which ordered residents to evacuate via “vehicle transport” organised by Putin’s military.
Published by media network Visegrad 24, the video clip captured a public broadcast which declared: “Residents must leave the settlement before November 7th.”
The loudspeaker blasted: “The danger is imminent. A high level of military threat is expected.
“Evacuation is carried out by organised vehicle transport. Head to evacuation points.”
Residents of Kherson were told: “Take documents, money, valuable items and warm clothes.”
Russian-installed officials have reported the southern region of Ukraine is under threat from an attack by Ukrainian military forces.
Kherson was among four key occupied regions in which proxy referendums were conducted among the population to determine if the territory should be formally annexed by the Russian Federation.
Global leaders have condemned the votes and declared the result holds no legitimacy given the referendums were conducted without the approval of the Ukrainian Government and there is no independent verification of the Russian voting system.
Despite this, the Kremlin has formally declared that the referendums conducted in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia broadly supported Russian annexation. Some state-controlled media outlets in Moscow reported as much as 98 percent of the resident population approved of their region being absorbed into the Russian state.
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The Kremlin-appointed governor within Kherson reported in a video message that the region could suffer “mass destruction”.
Vladimir Saldo said: “Due to the possibility of the use of prohibited methods of war by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, there is an immediate danger of the Kherson region being flooded.”
He continued: “Given the situation, I have decided to expand the evacuation zone by 15 kilometres from the Dnipro. The decision will make it possible to create a layered defence in order to repel Ukrainian attacks and protect civilians.”
Saldo claimed the evacuation would prevent a “humanitarian catastrophe” at the hands of the Ukrainian military.
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