Ahead of Ukrainian military counter-attack, the Ukrainian government has encouraged residents of the Russian-occupied southern parts of the nation to leave “by all possible means,” as Moscow’s soldiers have been characterized as wreaking a “true hell” in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, stated on Saturday that Russian soldiers had launched 20 artillery, mortar, and rocket assaults in the province over the course of the previous night and that they were moving closer to the border with the nearby city of Donetsk.
Haidai posted on Telegram, comparing the strikes to a “true hell,” and said that they were attempting to restrict the Russians’ armed formations throughout the entire front line.
Russia took the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, the city of Lysychansk, last week, and observers expected that Moscow’s soldiers would likely take an “operational pause” to rearm and reorganize their forces.
“So far, there has been no operational pause announced by the enemy. He is still attacking and shelling our lands with the same intensity as before ,” Haidai stated.
In a later statement, the governor claimed that the bombing of Luhansk was only halted when Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian ammo stores and barracks used by Russian troops.
Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, has urged people who live in Russian-controlled areas in the south of the nation to leave so that occupying forces cannot use them as human shields during an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“You need to search for a way to leave, because our armed forces are coming to de-occupy”, she stated. “There will be a massive fight. I don’t want to scare anyone. Everyone understands all of this anyway.”
Vereshchuk claimed a civilian evacuation effort was already underway for some of the Kherson and Zaporizhia areas during a press conference late on Friday. She refused to provide more information, citing security concerns.
It was unclear how citizens in Russian-controlled regions were supposed to leave safely while missile assaults and artillery bombardment persisted nearby, if occupying troops would allow them to go, or even whether they would hear the Ukrainian government’s call to leave.
SOURCE: ALJAZEERA & NEWS AGENCIES
