Ukraine urges residents in southern Kherson to evacuate ahead of counterattack

The government in Kiev has called on civilians in the Russia-controlled southern region of Kherson to urgently evacuate ahead of a Ukrainian military operation against Russian forces.

“I know for sure that there should not be women and children there and that they should not become human shields,” Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Sunday on national television.

“It’s clear there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling... and we, therefore, urge (people) to evacuate urgently,” Vereshchuk added.

Ukrainian forces have been accused of shelling their own civilians in the restive Donbass region. Earlier in May, the Russian army confirmed that Ukraine's shelling killed and injured the Ukrainian civilians in the southern region of Kherson, when it pounded southern and eastern areas with missiles.

“You must look for a way to leave because our armed forces will de-occupy. There will be a huge battle. I don’t want to scare anyone, everyone understands everything anyway,” Vereshchuk added.

Russia takes full control of Kherson in Ukraine as war enters 20th day

Russia’s Defense Ministry says its troops have taken control of Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson as the Russian military campaign enters its 20th day.

The city of Kherson was the first key urban center to be captured by Russian troops after Moscow launched a military campaign against Ukraine on February 24. Kherson’s authorities have said that they want to hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, but no date has been set yet.

After losing ground in the strategic city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to reclaim control of all the territory Russia has captured.

It’s unclear how many residents remain in the Kherson region now, but around 300,000 people used to live there before the war. It’s a strategic city in the eastern Donbas, especially if Russia moves to capture the port city of Odesa.

The development came after Russia’s ambassador to London noted that his country is unlikely to pull out of the vast expanses of Ukraine’s south, which it has captured since the launch of its military operation in the former Soviet republic.

“It is difficult to predict the withdrawal of our forces from the southern part of Ukraine because we have already experienced that after withdrawal, provocations start and all the people are being shot and all that,” he said.

The battles continue to rage at strategic points along the frontlines in Ukraine’s east and south, as the military conflict approaches its fifth month.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

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