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Evacuees from Ukraine’s southern Kherson region were expected to begin arriving in Russia on Friday after a Moscow-installed local authorities suggested they flee for safety in a sign of Russia’s weakening hold on territory it claims to have annexed. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
6:48am: Civilians fleeing annexed Kherson flee to Russia
Evacuees from Ukraine’s southern Kherson region were expected to begin arriving in Russia on Friday after the Moscow-installed local authorities suggested they leave for safety.
“We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if they wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes…go to other regions,” Russian-installed Kherson administration chief Vladimir Saldo said in a video message. People should “leave with their children”.
The offer applied foremost to residents on the west bank of the Dnipro River, he said. That includes the regional capital, the only major Ukrainian city Russia has captured intact since invading in February.
The first civilians fleeing from Kherson were due to arrive in Russia’s Rostov region on Friday, TASS news agency reported.
Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces that Russia claims to have annexed in recent weeks, and arguably the most strategically important. It controls both the only land route to the Crimea peninsula Russia seized in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro, the river that bisects Ukraine.
6:39am: Ukraine says more than 600 settlements liberated in past month
Ukraine’s armed forces have liberated more than 600 settlements from the Russian occupation in the past month, including 75 in the highly strategic Kherson region, Ukraine’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories said.
Some 502 settlements have been liberated in the northeast Kharkiv region where Ukrainian forces last month advanced deep into Russian lines, the ministry said late Thursday.
The ministry said 43 settlements were liberated in the Donetsk region and seven in the Luhansk region.
“The area of liberated Ukrainian territories has increased significantly,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
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