Vladimir Putin Orders Evacuation of Kherson Residents in Another Russia's Failure To Conquer Ukraine's Troops

The Kremlin-appointed head of the Kherson province is advising citizens to take their children and flee for Russia as Ukrainian forces close in on the southern city of Kherson, which Russian soldiers have controlled since the start of the battle.

Vladimir Saldo requested that the Kremlin arrange for evacuations from four cities, including Kherson, on Thursday on Telegram, claiming that Ukrainian missile attacks are harming citizens and destroying structures.

Russia to Evacuate Kherson Residents

Saldo asserted that Kherson, one of the four Ukrainian districts Moscow claims to have annexed, is the target of retaliation by Kyiv since it allegedly supported joining Russia last month in elections that were universally acknowledged as fraud. Ukraine has insisted it does not intentionally target its own civilians, as per USA Today.

One of the clearest indications yet that Moscow is losing control over the region it claims to have annexed is the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's southern Kherson region's order to inhabitants to take their children and leave. Saldo officially requested Moscow's assistance in moving civilians to safer parts of Russia, and the Russian government has pledged to provide free lodging to any citizens who escape, according to Independent.

Following a recent string of setbacks in Russia's war against Ukraine, the exodus of the Kherson people would be the most severe blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Successful Ukrainian counteroffensives have caused significant losses to Russian-held territory, people, and equipment in the districts of Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donbas. Notably, the inhabitants of Kherson would flee soon after Putin announced that Russia had annexed the region along with three others.

It controls both the only land access point to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 and the mouth of the Dnipro, a river that bisects Ukraine over a distance of 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles).

Both Ukraine and world leaders have declared the acts to be illegal. The people of the city won't be evacuated, according to Kirill Stremousov, the deputy mayor of Kherson who was placed by Russia.

Governor Vladimir Saldo's plea to the leadership of the Russian Federation with a request to assist in organizing the departure of people of the Kherson region for a temporary stay and is not a call for evacuation to rest in other parts of the Russian Federation, the author said.

However, Stremousov said that many civilian lives have already been lost as a result of suspected Ukrainian shelling in Kherson and advised locals to stay calm and not succumb to fear, News Week via MSN reported.

Ukrainian Forces Advance in Kherson

In their largest southward advance since the start of the war, Ukrainian soldiers have recently pierced through the front lines of Russia there. Since then, they have been moving forward quickly along the west bank intending to cut off the supply lines and potential escape routes of thousands of Russian troops.

A flight of civilians would be an insult to Moscow's claim that it has annexed almost 15% of Ukraine's territory, as many of its best-trained soldiers have been sent to defend Kherson's west bank. The fact that supplies cannot cross the river, which is several kilometers wide and has few crossings, to reach the forces on the west bank, is a significant problem.

In the past two weeks, Ukraine has reclaimed a large area of ground, and its soldiers are advancing toward the two-mile (three-kilometer) Nova Kakhovka dam, one of the final remaining river crossings. Following swift gains in the east since September, Ukraine made gains in the south this month, as per Daily Mail.