Occupants ask to flee Is the Ukrainian advance on Kherson imminent?
10/14/2022, 16:46
Military experts expect Kiev’s offensive in the city of Kherson as early as next week. The Ukrainian authorities have a slightly different view of the urgent evacuation requests from the Russian occupation forces: collaborators and traitors in particular are now being forced to flee.
Western military experts estimate that Ukrainian troops could cross the Dnipro River at Kherson as early as next week. This was reported by the “Financial Times” without citing the sources. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had “outlined steps towards further liberation of Ukrainian territories” with his country’s military leadership.
Under increasing pressure from Ukrainian counter-offensives, Russian occupiers in the southern Kherson region urged civilians to flee. For their own safety, people are recommended to travel to Russia, Moscow-appointed head of administration Kirill Stremoussow wrote on Telegram. The day before, the Russian-appointed head of the administration, Vladimir Saldo, had called on the population to flee to Russia and asked Moscow to help with the “evacuation.” Stremusov caused confusion and contradicted his superior’s order, adding that Russian troops would not withdraw.
“Occupants understand they cannot resist”
A representative of the Ukrainian regional council said one should not speak like the occupants of the evacuation unless they are collaborators with Russia. “This ‘evacuation’ announced by Saldo is an evacuation for collaborators and traitors in the region… They want to bring these collaborators to Russia,” Serhiy Khlan said, adding, “The occupiers understand that they cannot last long.” This mainly affects the right bank of the Dnipro and the city of Kherson.
Residents of the Kherson region were reportedly taken to the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula and the southern Russian regions of Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol. The Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which Russia has declared annexed, has been the target of a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army for several weeks.
Along with Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in late September. According to observers, seven and a half months after the start of the war, the Ukrainian army could be on the cusp of its next great success. In recent weeks, Kyiv has repeatedly reported that the first villages in Kherson have been recaptured.