Russia expands Ukraine evacuation orders in occupied Kherson

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Russia on Tuesday expanded its evacuation orders in the southern Kherson region over unsupported claims that Ukraine is gearing up to use "prohibited methods of war."

Moscow-installed officials ordered Ukrainians to leave the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in a move that Kyiv has condemned as an attempt to forcibly deport its citizens to Russia, reported Reuters. 

Intense fighting has raged for months in the city of Kherson as Ukrainian forces look to retake the southern region after an eight-month-long occupation. 

People arrived from Kherson hold their bags as they wait for further evacuation into the depths of Russia at the Dzhankoi's railway station in Crimea on Oct. 21, 2022. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

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Earlier this month, Russia called on its top security officials and their families to flee the area before ordering evacuations from Kherson. 

That order was expanded by Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-installed head of the Kherson region, Tuesday in a video message, where he called on all Ukrainians in a 9-mile radius of the Dnieper River to evacuate. 

"Due to the possibility of the use of prohibited methods of war by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, there is an immediate danger of the Kherson region being flooded," Saldo reportedly claimed.

"Given the situation, I have decided to expand the evacuation zone by 15 km from the Dnieper," he said. "The decision will make it possible to create a layered defense in order to repel Ukrainian attacks and protect civilians."

A worker collects wood and roofing materials in a destroyed home in the recently retaken village of Velyka Oleksandrivka in Kherson, Ukraine on Oct. 27, 2022, as Russia-Ukraine war continues. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Kyiv and Western allies have decried Moscow’s blatant push to forcibly deport Ukrainian citizens since the onslaught of the war. 

Earlier this month, Russia claimed it had knowledge of Ukrainian intent to deploy a "dirty bomb" – a primitive weapon that detonates by using a conventional explosive like dynamite but releases radioactive materials.  

No such device has yet been used by either Russia or Ukraine, and the U.S., France and the U.K. condemned the claims as "transparently false."

Evacuees from Kherson gather upon their arrival at the railway station in Dzhankoi, Crimea, on Oct. 21, 2022. Russian authorities, who initially dismissed talk of evacuating the city, sharply changed course this week, warning that Kherson could come under massive Ukrainian shelling and encouraging residents to leave. (AP Photo)

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The Kherson region has become not only one of the hardest fought over regions since the war began, but one of the most strategically consequential as crossing the Dnieper River would push Ukrainian forces closer to Crimea – which Kyiv has vowed to retake after being under Russian occupation since 2014.

Ukrainian defense officials have remained ambiguous on operational updates in Kherson, but reporting in recent days suggests that weather and on-the-ground conditions have slowed Ukrainian advancements.