Reports: Russian soldiers occupying homes
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian soldiers are forcing Ukrainian civilians from their apartments in the occupied capital of the Kherson region and moving in themselves, a resident said Friday as the southern city became a growing focus of war in Ukraine.
His account of soldiers spreading throughout the city of Kherson suggested that Russia could be preparing for intense urban warfare in anticipation of Ukrainian advances.
Russia-installed authorities in Kherson continued to urge civilians to leave the city, which lies on the right, or western, bank of the Dnieper River and has been cut off from supplies and food by Ukrainian bombardment.
Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the region’s Kremlin-appointed administration, reiterated calls for civilians to depart for the left bank of the river. Stremousov said Thursday that Russian forces might soon withdraw from Kherson city. On Friday, he said the statement was merely an attempt to encourage evacuations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested the Russians were feigning a pullout from Kherson in order to lure in the Ukrainian army. Zelenskyy called attempts to persuade civilians to move deeper into Russian-controlled territory “theater.”
A Kherson resident told the Associated Press that Russian soldiers were installing themselves in vacated apartments. Russian military personnel are reportedly going door to door, checking property deeds, and forcing tenants to leave immediately if they can’t confirm ownership of apartments, he said.
“They’re forcing city residents to evacuate, and then Russian soldiers move into freed-up apartments across all of Kherson,” the resident, who spoke on condition that only his first name — Konstantin — was used for security reasons. “It is obvious that they are preparing for fighting the Ukrainian army in the city.”
Hospitals and clinics were not serving patients in Kherson,
where residents also reported problems with food supplies.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told the AP that as part of its counteroffensive to reclaim the Kherson region, the Ukrainian army cut off the right bank of the Dnieper from supplies of weapons and food by shelling main transportation routes and ruining bridges across the river.
“The Russians understand the danger of transport routes being blocked and have practically put up with the fact that they will have to retreat from the right bank of the Dnieper,” Zhdanov said. “But the Russian troops are not prepared to leave Kherson peacefully and are preparing for battles within the city. They’re deploying the mobilized reservists there and new tactical battalion groups.”