Russian troops order thousands of civilians to flee Kherson as Ukraine prepares offensive to retake key city
RUSSIAN troops have ordered thousands of civilians to flee as Ukraine prepares a new offensive to retake a key city.
Up to 60,000 are set to quit Kherson in days as Vladimir Putin’s generals said the situation was “tense” and “difficult”.
Kremlin-appointed puppets in the annexed region were among the first to flee.
They boarded boats to cross the Dnipro River, while military vehicles were seen leaving by road.
Kyiv branded the exodus a “mass deportation” of its citizens who were being forced further into Russia and Crimea.
Ukrainian forces are advancing along the Dnipro’s west bank in a bid to recapture the city and encircle thousands of Russian troops.
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The city is key because it provides crossings for supplies, troops and civilians, drinking water for southern Ukraine and the annexed Crimean peninsula, and power from a hydroelectric station.
There are growing fears Russia is now plotting to blow up the Kakhovka dam to flood the city.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russians had mined the dam to spark a “catastrophe on a grand scale”.
Hundreds of thousands of people around the Dnipro basin would be in danger of flooding if it was destroyed.
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Meanwhile missile attacks caused rolling blackouts in Mykolaiv and Odesa.