“The work organizing the departure of the inhabitants of the left bank of the Dnipro river to safe regions in Russia has been completed,” said Sergei Aksionov, the leader of Crimea, a neighboring peninsula of Kherson annexed in 2014 by Moscow.
According to a Russian occupation official in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, at least 70,000 residents left their homes in the region in less than a week.
VIDEO. In Kherson, the Russians evacuate civilians “to save above all… their troops”
“I am happy that those who wanted to quickly and safely leave the territory bombarded by the Ukrainian armed forces were able to do so,” Sergei Aksionov said on Telegram, posting a photo alongside the deputy director of the presidential administration. Russian Sergei Kirienko.
Ukraine, which is leading an offensive in the region after inflicting serious setbacks on Russian forces on other fronts, called these population transfers “deportations” while noting that, over the past 24 hours, “the self -saying evacuation of the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region continues”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces attacked this Russian grip on Thursday. Ukrainian forces surrounded Kherson from the west and attacked Russia’s position on the west bank of the Dnieper which divides the region and the country.