1660615939 Ukraine is urging civilians to leave Kherson as it prepares

Ukraine is urging civilians to leave Kherson as it prepares a bid to retake Russian-held territory

Kyiv, Ukraine—Kyiv is urging residents of the Russian-held Kherson region to evacuate before a winter made worse by bottlenecks sets in and before a Ukrainian counteroffensive is promised to retake the strategic area.

“Evacuation. A harsh winter is coming. We must help you to save you from the cold and the enemy,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Sunday in Zaporizhia, a city near the front line.

The appeal by Ms Vereshchuk, who said around 50% of the population of the Kherson region have already answered the call, is the latest official request for Ukrainians to leave the territory. Kyiv says Moscow is preparing to annex parts of the region after a series of referenda are planned for the coming weeks, adding urgency to the struggle for control of the south.

An evacuation from the territory would make it easier for Ukrainian forces to operate there without causing civilian casualties. Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said a successful liberation would be much more difficult when thousands were left behind.

“People are waiting for the De crew. That’s why we’re asking people to leave. There can be no military operations in places where there are people,” he said.

The calls come as Ukraine continues to announce its major counter-offensive to retake the city of Kherson and other occupied areas, a campaign that has been aided by the supply of powerful Western weapons but has yet to yield results in terms of recapturing significant areas.

Ukraine is urging civilians to leave Kherson as it prepares

A military ambulance near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Photo: NACHO DOCE/Portal

Kyiv laid the groundwork for the operation and attacked infrastructure to cut off Russian forces in the region. Some key infrastructure has been disabled by precision weapon strikes, including the US-supplied Himars missile systems, with all three road bridges into the central part of the region now likely inoperable, according to Ukrainian officials. But military analysts say Ukraine lacks the manpower for a full-scale attack.

Opening a trade fair for Russia’s military-industrial complex outside Moscow on Monday, President Vladimir Putin tried to downplay Russia’s international isolation by thanking his allies and saying the military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan.

“Our soldiers, together with troops from Donbass, do their duty with honor and fight for Russia and peace in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” he said, referring to two Russian proxy states in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.

In eastern Donbas, Russia is likely to focus on two main axes of advance. The push to capture the heavily fortified city of Sloviansk has slowed in favor of an intensified offensive against Bakhmut to the south-east and Avdiivka further south.

Russian forces grouped in these areas vary widely in command structure and composition, with hastily assembled and undertrained volunteer battalions from across Russia recently arriving in Ukraine, along with mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group and mobilized residents of the Russian Proxy States in Eastern Ukraine.

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Residents in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, waited for food aid.

Photo: Serhii Korovayny for The Wall Street Journal

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Mykolaiv residents collected clean water amid supply shortages.

Photo: Serhii Korovayny for The Wall Street Journal

The high concentration of volunteer battalions around Izyum and Slovyansk, a city briefly occupied by Russian-backed forces in 2014 and of symbolic importance, suggests that the area is not in the immediate focus of Russian attention and may be vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said in a report released Sunday.

As the war nears the six-month mark, far from the battlefield, a debate rages on about the usefulness of imposing travel restrictions on Russian citizens. The idea was backed by some members of the European Union and actively pushed by Kyiv to limit the rights of Russians, who Ukraine says have not done enough to stop Mr Putin from continuing the invasion he launched on Tuesday started February 24th.

On Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on more countries to support the proposal, equating a lack of vocal opposition to the war among Russians with complicity in its consequences. Hundreds of Russians living abroad, including many opponents of Putin, have criticized such collective punishment as counterproductive on social media in recent days.

“If you have Russian citizenship and are silent, it means that you are not fighting and thereby supporting [your government]’ Mr Zelensky said in a video address. “And wherever you are – whether on Russian territory or abroad – your voice should be in support of Ukraine and against this war.”

The fighting around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has intensified in recent days. Mr Zelensky on Monday accused Russia of rejecting security demands from the European Union and other countries that have called on Russia to withdraw its forces from the plant.

United Nations Secretary-General spokesman António Guterres said UN officials had not canceled or blocked a visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency, dismissing claims by Russian officials.

“The UN Secretariat has determined that it has the logistical and security capabilities in Ukraine to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from Kyiv, should both Russia and Ukraine agree,” said Stéphane Dujarric.

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A hole in Mykolayiv caused by a Russian missile.

Photo: Serhii Korovayny for The Wall Street Journal

write to Matthew Luxmoore at [email protected]

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