Russia announces civilian evacuation from key Ukraine city

Russia announced the evacuation of civilians from a key southern Ukrainian city Tuesday as it acknowledged the situation for its troops on the ground in Ukraine was "tense" in the face of a counter-offensive.

Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, scrambled to rebuild damaged energy facilities across the country following a series of deadly Russian strikes and President Volodymyr Zelensky charged that Moscow's purported use of Iranian-made drones in the attacks highlighted its "military and political bankruptcy".

Russian General Sergey Surovikin, who has been in charge of recent operations in Ukraine, said the army was preparing to evacuate civilians from the city of Kherson, which is part of the four regions in Ukraine that Moscow recently claimed to have annexed.

Kherson was the first city to fall to Russian forces after the Kremlin launched its invasion on February 24, but Ukrainian troops have been pushing increasingly closer to the city in recent weeks as part of a successful counter-offensive.

"The Russian army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population" of Kherson, Surovikin told state television Rossiya 24, describing the situation as "very difficult" both for civilians and Russian soldiers.

"The enemy is not abandoning its attempts to attack Russian troop positions," he added.

And Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Kherson region, announced on Telegram "an organized relocation of civilians" from several of the region's municipalities to the left bank of the Dnipro river.
Ukraine warned of an emerging "critical" risk to its power grid after repeated Russian bombardments had destroyed one third of the country's power facilities as winter approaches, according to the presidency.