Kyiv: Counterattack in Kherson – Urges residents to evacuate

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“It is clear that there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling, and therefore we urge people to leave urgently,” Ukrainian Vice President Iryna Verechuk said

The vice president of the Ukrainian government Irina Verechuk called on civilians in the Russian-occupied southern region today Kherson to be urgently removed from there, as the Ukrainian armed forces prepare a counter-offensive.

Ukraine lost control of most of the Black Sea region of Kherson, including its capital of the same name, in the first weeks after invasion of Russia on February 24.

“It is clear that there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling… and therefore we urge (people) to evacuate as a matter of urgency”Verechuk said on state television.

He said he couldn’t say exactly when it would be counterattack.

“I know for sure that there should not be women and children there and that they should not be turned into human shields”he added.

Authorities in Kherson, where Russian occupation forces have settled, say they want to hold a referendum on the region’s secession from Russia, but have yet to set a date. The Kremlin argues that the future of the region must be determined by its inhabitants.

The Kherson area includes the city of the same name, which before the war had a population of almost 300,000 inhabitants. It is not known how many of the townspeople are still there.

RES-EMP

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