People in Mykolaiv fill bottles with fresh drinking water after the main supply pipeline for drinking water was damaged in neighbouring Kherson.© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
‘In the very near future, battle for Kherson will begin’, says Kremlin-installed administrator; Russian airstrikes cut power and water.
Summary of the day so far …
The Russian-installed leader of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson, which Russia claims to have “annexed”, said this morning that authorities plan to evacuate around 50-60,000 people over the next six days, amid escalating pressure from a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Governor Vladimir Saldo said authorities were moving civilians to the left bank of the Dnipro in order to “keep people safe” and allow the military to “act resolutely”.
The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine described the military situation as “tense”. “The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson.
Kyiv has recently introduced a news blackout in the south of the country, leading to speculations that it was preparing a new major offensive on Kherson. “When the Ukrainians have a news blackout it means something is going on. They have always done this before when there is a big offensive push on,” Michael Clarke, a former director general of the Royal United Services Institute, told Sky News.
أسقطت القوات الأوكرانية 13 طائرة بدون طيار من طراز "كاميكازي" فوق ميكولايف خلال الليل ، بحسب حاكم المنطقة فيتالي كيم.