Russia urges evacuation of occupied Kherson, steels for Ukrainian advance

Russian-installed officials in occupied areas of Ukraine amplified calls for residents to leave the south as Kyiv’s forces step up their campaign to retake the region and Russia builds fortifications to thwart their advance. Ukraine has recaptured vast swaths of land in southern Kherson as its forces push toward the regional capital, having severed key Russian supply lines with attacks on bridges and other infrastructure Moscow has used for months to keep its troops equipped and send in reinforcements. “It’s no secret that shelling of Kherson region is dangerous first and foremost for civilians,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy head of Kherson, said in a video address on Friday, adding that attacks on a dam across the Dnipro River could cause major floods in the region.

Mr. Stremousov asked people not to panic and reiterated calls from Russian officials for Kherson residents to leave for Russian cities “to avoid casualties among the civilian population” as Russia worked to push Ukrainian forces back. He described the evacuations as “rest and recreation” trips. Calls for an evacuation from Kherson come amid growing signs of a coming collapse in Russian lines of defense despite a military mobilization of tens of thousands of Russian men who were meant to stabilize Russia’s position and shore up its control over occupied areas. Russian military bloggers supportive of the invasion of Ukraine have lambasted the country’s military leadership after reports of numerous front-line deaths this week among the newly mobilized men, most of whom arrive in Ukraine with minimal training and often outdated equipment. Videos posted to social media show Russian prisoners of war identifying themselves as mobilized soldiers, recounting their journeys to the front line and details of their capture by Ukrainian troops. Russian military bloggers, who aren’t subject to the censorship imposed at state media outlets that whitewash Russia’s campaign, have dismissed official figures that play down the country’s losses. A Russian military blogger with 330,000 followers who goes by the name Grey Zone wrote late on Thursday that the rate of deaths among mobilized soldiers suggests that by February, 10,000 of the 200,000 men mobilized for the war will be killed and 40,000 wounded.