Russia tells civilians to evacuate annexed Kherson as Ukrainian forces advance

Residents encouraged to ‘take their children and leave’

Russia has told residents of illegally annexed Kherson to evacuate as Ukrainian troops approach, raising fears the region could become the new frontline in Vladimir Putin’s war.

Moscow-installed governor Vladimir Saldo told Kherson’s civilians to take their children and flee in a video statement on Telegram on Thursday.

“Every day, the cities of Kherson region are subjected to missile attacks,” Mr Saldo said. “As such, the leadership of Kherson administration has decided to provide Kherson families with the option to travel to other regions of the Russian Federation to rest and study.”

Mr Saldo said “we suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if they wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes” and advised people to “leave with their children”.

Ukrainian troops advance upon Kherson as governor of annexed regions tells civilans to evacuate (EPA)

Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces that Mr Putin illegally annexed this month, and arguably the most important as it controls both the only land route to the Crimea peninsula Russia seized in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro, the giant river that bisects Ukraine.

However, just moments after the governor’s message, his deputy downplayed the call and insisted there was no evacuation plan.

“There is and can be no evacuation in Kherson region,” Kirill Stremousov said, adding: “Nobody is planning to withdraw Russian troops from the Kherson region.”

Over the last week, the Ukrainian army unleashed a broad counteroffensive in the south, capturing a string of villages on the western bank of the Dnieper River and advancing toward the city of Kherson.

Meanwhile, Mykolaiv, the nearest big Ukrainian-held city to Kherson, came under fire on Thursday with several civilan facilities hit, local officials said.

Regional governor Vitaly Kim said the top two floors of a five-story residential building were destroyed and the rest were under rubble, with residents as young as 11-year-old buried under it for up to six hours.

A man reacts near the body of his cousin, killed in a Russian rocket attack in Mykolaiv, Ukraine (AP)

In the east, three Russian missiles exploded on Thursday morning near the central market in Kupiansk, a major railway junction city that Ukrainian forces recaptured during their big advance there in September.

The missiles destroyed shops, carpeting surrounding streets with glass shards, rubble, and twisted metal sheets.

Dmytro, who declined to give his last name, trudged up the debris-strewn steps of his shoe store to salvage whatever undamaged inventory he could from the devastated interior.

"Who knows? They consider it a military object," he said sarcastically when asked why he thought the Russians hit Kupiansk's commercial centre.

The weakening Russian offensive has not been taken lightly by Putin, who has only turned more sinister in his threats with every blow served to Moscow.

Vladimir Putin leashes the biggest air strike this week since the start of the war in February (Sputnik)

This week, the Russian president launched the biggest air strikes since the start of the war, firing more than 100 cruise missiles mainly at electricity and heat infrastructure, with some landing in parks, busy roads and at tourist sites. Putin said the strikes were retaliation for a blast that damaged Russia’s bridge to Crimea.

On Thursday Nato allies meeting in Brussels unveiled plans to also jointly beef up Europe’s air defences with Patriot and other missile systems.

“We are living in threatening, dangerous times,” said German defence minister Christine Lambrecht at a signing ceremony where Germany and more than a dozen European Nato members committed to jointly procuring weapons for a “European Sky Shield”.