Russia ends the eviction of civilians in Kherson carried out before the advance of the Ukrainian counteroffensive
Sergei Kiriyenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff, has visited the Ukrainian city of Kherson (in the south of the country), the only provincial capital that Moscow’s troops have managed to conquer since the Russian invasion of the neighboring country began on last February 24. Kherson is also the scene of an intense counter-offensive by the Ukrainian Army, which in recent weeks has managed to recapture hundreds of square kilometers and is now trying to head towards the provincial capital, where the Kremlin’s puppet authorities have evicted thousands of civilians due to the upcoming fighting. Kiriyenko, former head of Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear regulatory agency, has been to the very port where the Moscow-imposed authorities have been ferrying people from the right bank of the Dnieper River, where Kherson is, to the left bank, according to Sergey Aksionov, the Russian-imposed authority on the annexed Crimean peninsula. “The work of organizing the departure of civilians is over,” Aksionov said.
Until today, the latest data on the eviction of civilians in Kherson had been given last Wednesday afternoon by the governor of the province imposed by Russia, Vladimir Saldo, who stated that more than 70,000 people had already crossed the river. Puppet Kremlin authorities announced last week that they intended to evacuate civilians from the area, one of four territories annexed by Moscow last month following referenda deemed fraudulent by the international community. The Russian administration then said it was seeking to evacuate between 50,000 and 60,000 people, barring civilian access to the city for a week.
In addition, according to Aksionov, Kiriyenko has also visited the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, located in the occupied city of Energodar, and has spoken with the plant’s staff, operated by Ukrainian technicians but under the control of Kremlin troops. Kiriyenko is one of the most powerful officials in the Kremlin alongside Putin’s chief of staff, Anton Vaino. (Reuters / THE COUNTRY)
In the photograph, Sergei Kiriyenko (second from the left, in the first row) and Sergei Aksionov (the first from the left in the second row), at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in a photograph shared by Aksyonov himself on his Twitter account Telegram.
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