Residents urged to leave annexed region as Ukraine advances

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Moscow-installed authorities in Ukraine’s occupied southern region of Kherson are urging local residents to evacuate to Russia. The move indicates that Ukrainian military gains along the war’s southern front are worrying the Kremlin, which is struggling to cement its hild on areas it illegally annexed from Ukraine last month. Russian authorities immediately promised free accommodation to anyone who heeded the recommendation to leave Kherson. The region’s Russian-installed leader told Russian state TV on Friday night that hundreds of people have requested to be evacuated from the region. Reports of evacuation preparations also came from the city of Melitopol, located in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, which neighbors Kherson to the east.