Russia warns of fight for Kherson in ‘very near future’
Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy administrator of the Kherson region, has said in a Telegram message posted late on Tuesday that, ‘“In the very near future, the battle for Kherson will begin.”
“The civilian population is advised to leave the area of the forthcoming fierce hostilities, if possible, so as not to expose themselves to unnecessary risk,” Stremousov added.
The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine announced on Tuesday that civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”.
“The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson.
Key events
Russian-installed leader of Kherson: 60,000 people to be evacuated over next six days
The Russian-installed leader of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson, which Russia claims to have “annexed”, said this morning that authorities plan to evacuate around 50-60,000 people over the next six days, amid escalating pressure from a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Speaking on an online broadcast of “Soloviev Live”, Russian-installed governor Vladimir Saldo said authorities were moving civilians to the left bank of the Dnipro in order to “keep people safe” and allow the military to “act resolutely”.
“I drove through the regional centre this morning. On the exterior, there was nothing to suggest there was a lot of pressure,” Saldo said.
“But when I arrived at the river port I saw that the boats were waiting and are already loaded with people ready to go to the left bank of the Dnipro,” he said, adding that the situation “is getting tense.”
Reuters reports he said an estimated 10,000 people a day would be moved over the next six days, and that some regions in Russia were being prepared to accept people. More than 5,000 people have already left Kherson in the last two days, Saldo said.
The river Dnipro flows through the Kherson region. The city of Kherson is to the north of the river, where Russia controls some territory. The bulk of the region is to the south of the Dnipro though, which Russia fully occupies at present. There are limited crossings, one of which is the Antonovskiy Bridge, which has been a frequent target for Ukrainian attacks.
Here is a video clip of the new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine announcing that civilians are being “resettled” away from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”.
Sergei Surovikin said the situation was particularly difficult around Kherson. Russian forces have been trying to hold off a Ukrainian counter-assault in the region that Moscow claimed to have annexed last month after staging its sham referendum.
Kyiv withdraws ambassador to Kazakhstan following diplomatic row over ‘killing Russians’ remark
It appears there has been a resolution to the diplomatic standoff between Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia over Ukraine’s ambassador in Astana, Petro Vrublevsky. The ambassador is to be withdrawn.
Russia had called for him to be expelled after he gave an interview in which he made comments about “killing” Russians. He later apologised for the remarks. Kazakhstan did not expel him, which sparked criticism from Moscow.
Now it appears, according to reports from Agence France-Presse, that Astana has informed Kyiv of the “unacceptability” of Vrublevsky’s statement, and the Ukrainian president’s office has responded by recalling the ambassador.
At one point in the row, Kazakhstan had summoned the Russian ambassador for a dressing down about Moscow’s criticisms.
In August, Vrublevsky had said Ukrainians were “trying to kill as many Russians as possible” because the more they kill now, “the fewer our children will have to kill”.
Reuters has a quick snap that Poland has signed an agreement to purchase 288 South Korean rocket artillery systems. It quotes defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak saying that the first “18 launchers that will be delivered to Poland next year will defend eastern Poland”.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the head of government in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, has said on Telegram that overnight Ukrainian drones were shot down by air defence over Crimea and Sevastopol. The claims have not been independently verified.
Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has said that overnight in his region there was one air alert but otherwise everything was calm. He said that in the last 24 hours, 124 people arrived in the Lviv region on evacuation trains from the east of Ukraine, with 540 people evacuated to Poland.
The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been questioned on Sky News this morning about defence secretary Ben Wallace’s dash to Washington, amid rumours that the trip was made because of US concerns about the potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia and the supply of arms for use in Ukraine from Iran. Cleverly said:
We would inevitably discuss a full range of stuff, but ultimately these conversations are a normal and regular part of what is, frankly, a very abnormal and perverse situation.
Of course there’s urgency, because civilians are being targeted in a new way, and so we have to respond to that. And our response has got to be done at pace, and there are conversations which, frankly, you don’t want to have over the telephone.
The Belarus defence ministry has said in a statement that it has begun summoning citizens to check their eligibility for military service, but that it is not planning mobilisation.
Reuters quotes the statement, saying: “The military registration and enlistment activities are strictly routine and are expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has been quoted by a DPR Telegram source as telling the Soloviev Live channel that “the situation is under control along the entire line of contact in the Donetsk direction”.
Donetsk is one of the four occupied regions of Ukraine that Russia has claimed to “annex”.
Pro-Russian forces claim to have repulsed Ukrainian attempt to retake nuclear plant
An attempt to retake control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) by boats loaded with Ukrainian special forces has been repulsed, according to one of the Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine.
The state-owned RIA Novosti news agency quotes Vladimir Rogov, one of the Russian-installed leaders in Zaporizhzhia, saying:
Last night , a large group of landing boats, crowded with militants of special operations forces, left the southern region of the city of Zaporizhzhia and other directions. The attempted landing was repulsed.
Rogov told the news agency that about 30 boats participated in the landing attempt, but that the situation was under control, and there were no plans to evacuate Enerhodar, the settlement attached to the ZNPP. RIA did not publish any evidence to back up the claims other than Rogov’s words.
Russian forces have occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant since the earliest days of the war. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of firing on the power plant and risking a nuclear accident. Attempts to have the area declared a demilitarised zone for nuclear safety reasons have floundered. The ZNPP is located in Zaporizhzhia, one of the regions that Russia has claimed to “annex”.
Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk – one of the occupied regions that Russia claims to have annexed – has said that progress to “de-occupy” the region has been slower than the Ukrainian push in Kharkiv, because “it was in our region that all those soldiers who fled from Kharkiv oblast gathered”.
In a message on Telegram, Serhai Haidai also said that Ukrainian forces fighting to regain control of Luhansk face “freshly mobilised Russians, prisoners, and a lot of equipment and air defence [that] have arrived in Luhansk region”.
Haidai said that “the armed forces of Ukraine have developed a clear de-occupation plan and are clearly following it. When our military enter the liberated settlements we will offer the population evacuation for the winter period, and we will also work to provide people with heat, water, and communication.”
He also stated that “the leadership of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic is gradually being replaced by representatives of Russia”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Ukrainian forces have shot down 13 “kamikaze” drones over Mykoliav overnight, according to the region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim.
He posted to Telegram to say that “the enemy attacked twice with ‘Shahed-136’ kamikaze drones. 13 of them were shot down on the territory of the region. Thus, 11 drones were shot down by the forces and means of anti-aircraft defence of the ‘Southern’ air command, and two more by soldiers of the national guard of Ukraine and the state border service of Ukraine.”
Kim also identified several areas of the region that had been shelled, but there was no indication of any casualties so far. The claims have not been independently verified.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Martin Belam will take you through the latest for the next few hours.
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