As Kyiv’s forces continued their boldest push in the south since the war began, civilians in the Russian-occupied Kherson area of Ukraine were asked to flee on Friday, a move that Ukrainian officials labeled a sign of fear.
State-run Russian media said that the first Kherson evacuees would arrive in the Russian region of Rostov, which borders eastern Ukraine, later in the day.
Russia declared it would move people out of Kherson after the Russian-appointed head of the region asked for it. It has caused people to worry that the occupied city in the center of the south Ukrainian area will become a new frontline.
The move came as Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into the southern Kherson region, although at a slower rate, as part of their counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s armed forces have freed more than 600 settlements in the past month from Russian control, including 75 in the highly strategic Kherson region, according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories. (Source – The Guardian)
Kyiv has said that the International Committee of the Red Cross should do more to ensure that Ukrainian citizens and fighters in Russian captivity are safe. President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the ICRC to visit the Olenivka prisoner-of-war camp, which is thought to hold hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners.
The humanitarian group says Russia, which runs the prison, has not let them in. At least 50 people were killed in July at the camp in the eastern Donetsk People’s Republic, run by separatists. (Source – The Washington Post).
Russian forces have constantly been hitting the regional capital and the surrounding area in the past few days and weeks. It has raised questions about the safety of the nearby nuclear power plant.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the region’s capital.
Russian forces have attacked civilians this week, killing dozens in airstrikes on targets across Ukraine.
Ukraine has destroyed four bridges near the city and used Western-supplied artillery to attack Russian military infrastructure in the province.
Several Russian missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, making it shake. The capital of the area that Ukraine took over is still in Ukrainian hands, and it has been bombed several times as Ukraine pushes its counteroffensive in the south.
In Kyiv, a concert at the main opera house had to be cancelled because the city would lose power at different times. The city’s power infrastructure is still being fixed after Russia’s wide-ranging missile attacks.
Since Moscow started its invasion on February 24, Russian forces have only taken over Kherson.
Ukraine’s military hasn’t said much about its troops moving into a critical area near Crimea.
Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted almost unanimously to condemn Russia’s attempt to take over Crimea.
One hundred forty-three countries voted for the assembly’s resolution, while 35 countries, including China and India, didn’t vote. Russia was one of five countries that voted against the resolution. The other four were Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Nicaragua.
Even though it was just for show, it was the most votes against Russia since the invasion. (Source – BBC News).
