Tens of thousands of civilians and Russian-appointed officials are being moved out of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region ahead of a Ukrainian offensive, says the Russia-installed local leader.
Vladimir Saldo said all Russian-appointed departments and ministries would cross the Dnieper river.
Some 50-60,000 civilians would also leave in an “organised, gradual displacement”, he said earlier.
Ukraine has called on residents to ignore the Russian move.
The head of Kherson’s regional administration said Russia wanted to take civilians hostage and use them as human shields. The transfer or deportation of civilians by an occupying power from occupied territory is considered a war crime.
In a separate development, Russia’s Vladimir Putin said he had signed a decree imposing martial law on four Ukrainian regions, including Kherson, which Moscow annexed last month in a move rejected as illegal by the international community.
He told Russia’s Security Council that it would give regional leaders additional powers to maintain social order and safeguard important facilities.
On Tuesday night, residents in Kherson started receiving text messages, urging them to evacuate immediately to avoid shelling of residential areas by Ukrainian forces.
The messages said transport across the Dnipro River would be available from 07:00 on Wednesday.
“They are told to evacuate because the evil Ukrainians are going to shell the city,” one resident told the BBC, asking to remain anonymous.
“People are panicking because of propaganda.”
Russian TV footage on Wednesday showed a number of people gathering near the west bank of the Dnieper. As they queued for boats, it was not clear how many were leaving.
But Ukrainian officials have questioned whether large numbers of people are actually being evacuated, suggesting that images of a crowd assembled by the river are largely for show.
Serhiy Khlan, an aide to the ousted head of the Kherson region, suggested the “deportations theatre” could be acting as cover for a much bigger Russian move: a complete military evacuation from the west bank of the river.
“I foresee the withdrawal of troops,” he said, adding that he expected Russian forces to attempt to destroy the city after leaving.
Russia, he said, was planning to establish a new capital for the Kherson region at Henichesk, close to the Crimean Peninsula, adding that banks and offices related to the occupation of Kherson had already been evacuated.
One Kherson resident told the BBC’s World Service that she was not going anywhere until Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian troops: “People are not panicking, nobody wants to be evacuated.”
She said that Russian soldiers were now worried how they could survive in the city. “There are plenty of them here; they are dressed as civilians. We can see them – they are different to Kherson people. They walk in groups, their hair is cut short, they are dressed mainly in black.”
Ukrainian officials have warned that this might represent the start of a forcible deportation to Russia.
In early September, the UN said there were already credible accusations of forced deportation of Ukrainian children from other Russian-occupied areas. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, called the allegations “unfounded”. (Courtesy BBC)
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