Putin calls to evacuate Kherson as Ukraine tries to decipher his move

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putintoday called for the evacuation of civilians from Kherson in the face of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, while kyiv and the West try to figure out if it is preparing a troop withdrawal or, on the contrary, intends to create a trap for the Ukrainian forces.

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“Of course, those who live in Kherson must be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population must not suffer from bombing, offensives, counter-offensives and other measures related to military operations”he pointed out after laying flowers at a monument on the occasion of National Unity Day.

Continuous calls for evacuation

The pontoon units of the Southern Military District “transport up to 1,200 vehicles, both trucks and cars, as well as more than 5,000 civilians to the left bank of the Dnieper River daily,” the Defense Ministry reported shortly after.

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“Citizens are strongly advised to leave the right bank of the region and the city of Kherson, as a massive bombardment of the regional capital is possible soon.”stated today the pro-Russian deputy governor, Kiril Stremoúsov.

He even announced a 24-hour curfew in the city, but later changed his mind and said that “there are no restrictions for residents” beyond the seven-hour curfew at night.

“In Kherson at the moment everything is under the full control of military and police agencies. There is a fight 24 hours a day, seven days a week against possible provocations”he claimed.

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Puppet authorities in Kherson in October ordered the evacuation of some 80,000 citizens from the right bank to the left bank of the Dnieper River in the region in the face of approaching Ukrainian forces, and included the provincial capital two weeks ago.

This week they also extended the measure to the left bank of the Dnieper to remove up to 70,000 people from there.

Speculation about the next steps of Putin on this front, where Ukraine has already recovered large areas, they shot up the day before when Stremoúsov admitted that “most likely” is that the Russian troops will march “to the left bank”, which would mean abandoning the only capital to its fate area in the hands of Russia.

Added to this was the fact that a mayor faithful to kyiv affirmed that the Russian troops had abandoned three checkpoints attached to the city, and that the Russian flag disappeared from the regional administration building, transferred at the end of October to Genichesk, tens of kilometers further southeast, near the Crimean peninsula.

The Russian newspaper Komsomólskaya Pravda, however, assured that the tricolor flag continued to fly in other buildings, such as the Ushakov Maritime Academy.

Members of the Ukrainian artillery unit prepare to fire towards Kherson on October 28, 2022. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP) (BULENT KILIC /)

Retreat or trap?

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov today did not rule out the withdrawal of Russian troops to the left bank, announcing it as a “goodwill gesture” as he did when he withdrew in the spring from the kyiv, Sumi and Chernigov regions.

However, he did not exclude the possibility that it is a “special informative-psychological” operation so that Ukraine Trust a false withdrawal and fall into the trap.

Reznikov admitted that currently the rains make operations difficult, in addition to which the Russians use the irrigation canals of the agricultural region as trenches.

“But I am optimistic about the Kherson operation. I know that we are going to put an end to this war through the full de-occupation of all Ukrainian territories (…)”, he stressed.

The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said today that “it is not yet clear whether the Russian forces will defend the city of Kherson (…)”.

“We have observed that Russian forces continue to prepare positions on the left bank of the Dnieper, while continuing to establish defensive lines northwest of the city and transporting additional mobilized forces there.”said.

As he said today Putin49,000 mobilized out of a total of 318,000 – including volunteers – are already carrying out combat missions in Ukraine.

The war, a confrontation of a single people

The president reiterated that “a confrontation with the neo-Nazi regime in kyiv was inevitable.”

He also came to compare the conflict with a civil war, since it denies Ukraine its very existence.

“We take responsibility for preventing a much more difficult situation. We remember what happened in 1941, when, despite intelligence data on the inevitability of an attack on the Soviet Union, the necessary defense measures were delayed and at what a high price we won then over Nazism”held.

“Yes, now it’s not easy either, it’s difficult, it’s also bitter because the confrontation is taking place within a village, just like it happened after the 1917 uprisings: people clashed again” in a civil war, he stressed.

Source: Elcomercio