Ukrainian officials said the army hit a key target in Kherson, as pro-Russian authorities demanded that civilians leave the southern region.
Serhii Khlan, a member of the Kherson Regional Council, said Ukrainian forces hit a Russian air defense system near the stadium in the city of Kherson. Those systems have also been used to encircle Mykolaiv, sometimes with devastating effects.
Khlan posted a photo purporting to show “the rest of the device.”
Khlan said there were also other attacks in the Antonivskyi Bridge area, where Russian forces and pro-Russian authorities are operating ferries and pontoon bridges to supply the West Bank, where thousands of Russian troops remain. .
He said that in the city of Kakhovka – on the east bank of the Dnipro river – the three streets closest to the river are being forced to evacuate. The Russians “in the city are digging deep, setting up concrete trenches,” he said.
Khlan said the Russians “were digging deep on the east bank, preparing for the defense, thinking this would make our offensive impossible. But the resistance movement and the Ukrainian Armed Forces continued. keep fighting.”
Khlan echoed what other Ukrainian officials have asserted: that Russian-backed authorities have left the city of Kherson – on the west coast – to set up an office in the city of Skadovsk, much closer to Crimea.
“For the “emergency and forced” evacuation called by the Russians, our people are not going anywhere. [Ukrainian-held] territory or decide to stay at home, they certainly don’t want to go to Russia,” Khlan said.
