Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine

Russia ordered civilians to leave a swath of Ukraine along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.

Russia had previously ordered civilians out of a pocket it controls on the west bank of the river, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing to capture the city of Kherson. Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday they were now extending that order to a 15-km (9-mile) buffer zone along the east bank as well.

Ukraine says the evacuations include forced deportations from occupied territory, a war crime. Russia, which claims to have annexed the area, says it is taking civilians to safety because of a threat Ukraine might use unconventional weapons.

“Due to the possibility of the use of prohibited methods of war by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, there is an immediate danger of the Kherson region being flooded,” Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson province, said in a video message.

“Given the situation, I have decided to expand the evacuation zone by 15 km from the Dnipro,” he said. “The decision will make it possible to create a layered defense in order to repel Ukrainian attacks and protect civilians.”

Moscow has accused Kyiv of planning to use a so-called “dirty bomb” to spread radiation, or to blow up a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. Kyiv says accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine.

The mouth of the wide Dnipro River has become one of the most consequential frontlines in the war in recent weeks, with Ukrainian forces advancing to expel Russian troops from their only pocket on the west bank. Russia has thousands of troops there and has been trying to reinforce the area. Ukraine’s
advance has slowed in recent days, with commanders citing weather and tougher terrain.

Saldo, the Russian-imposed occupation leader for the province, identified seven towns on the east bank that would now be evacuated, comprising the main populated settlements along that stretch of the river.

The European Union accused Moscow on Tuesday of launching a new program to illegally conscript men in Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, to fight in its forces. The EU statement said Moscow was disproportionately conscripting members of Crimea’s indigenous Tatar minority to fight in its war.

Russia, which launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February, has announced it has completed a mobilization drive ordered in September by President Vladimir Putin, saying it had called up 300,000 reservists and no more were needed.

But the Kremlin said on Tuesday Putin would not issue a new
decree formally ending the mobilisation. That has raised concern
it could be restarted without notice.

Thousands of Russian men have fled abroad to escape conscription to a conflict which has killed thousands, displaced millions, shaken the global economy and reopened Cold War-era divisions.

‘Barbarian horde’

Just north of Kherson, Russia fired four missiles into the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight, demolishing half an apartment building. Reuters saw rescue workers recover the body of an elderly woman from the rubble.

As rush hour got underway, passers-by walked past a two-storey school, the front of which had been torn off by the force of a blast from another missile that left a massive crater.

“This is what the barbarian horde does,” said Irena Siden, 48, the school’s deputy director, standing in front of the gutted building as workers began sweeping up the rubble.

Russia fired a huge volley of missiles at Ukrainian cities on Monday in what Putin called retaliation for an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at the weekend. Ukraine said it shot most of those missiles down, but some had hit power stations, knocking out electricity and water supplies.

“That’s not all we could have done,” Putin said at a televised news conference.

Putin has also suspended cooperation with a program backed by Turkey and the United Nations to escort cargo ships carrying grain out of the war zone. The three-month-old program had ended a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain producers, and averted a global food crisis.

Russia’s suspension of cooperation had raised international fears that a food crisis could return, but so far a Russian blockade has not been restored, with 12 ships able to depart Ukraine on Monday carrying grain.

Three more sailed on Tuesday. The UN-backed program’s administrators said the shipments had been agreed by Ukrainian, Turkish and UN delegations and that Russia’s delegation had been informed, an apparent sign of a willingness to proceed without Moscow’s cooperation. – Rappler.com