Civilian evacuation ‘complete’ in Kherson: Crimea’s Moscow-appointed head
Kherson evacuations
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The evacuation of civilians from the Kherson region amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive has been completed, said Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Moscow-annexed Crimea, after he visited the region with President Vladimir Putin's first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko.
“The work to organise residents leaving the left side of the Dnipro (river) to safe regions of Russia is completed,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram late on Thursday.
Moscow’s occupational authorities in the southern Ukrainian region had urged residents to cross to the right bank of the Dnipro River as Ukrainian forces started making gains in the south.
Kyiv compares this civilian evacuation from Kherson to Soviet-like “deportations" of its people.
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“The crossing (of the Dnipro) is empty!" Aksyonov said.
He also posted photos of himself and other officials, including Kiriyenko, on a riverbank.
A Russian-installed official in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, had said on Wednesday that at least 70,000 people have left their homes in the Kherson region in a week, reports AFP.
Ukrainian military officers, however, claimed on Friday that Moscow’s “so-called evacuation" is continuing.
The AFP report cited the officials as sayingthat the Russian command in Kherson is trying to “hide the real losses of servicemen” in order to avoid panic.
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In a sign of Moscow suffering heavy losses, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said late on Thursday that 23 of his fighters were killed in battles around Kherson this week and dozens more wounded.
“At the beginning of this week, one of the Chechen units was shelled in the Kherson region,” Kadyrov, who has sent his militia to fight alongside the Kremlin’s forces, said on Telegram.
“23 soldiers were killed and 58 wounded,” he said.
The Kremlin ally rarely reveals defeats but admitted that losses were “big on that day”.
Moscow’s forces have vowed to turn Kherson into a “fortress” and not surrender the city, which they took over early in their offensive in March.
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Aksyonov said that he and Kiriyenko also visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest atomic facility — further north on the Dnipro River in Russian-occupied territory.
He said they met with the staff and assessed the general situation in the plant and area.
Ukraine accuses Moscow’s forces of “kidnapping” the plant’s staff and said last week that around 50 employees are held in “captivity".
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the plant, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster.
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