• “The Russian army will ensure the safe evacuation of the population,” Surovikin said.
• The Ukrainian military said Monday that Russian forces were busy building fortifications in the Kherson region and that they were moving civilians to Crimea.
• The mission wrote that 1.3 million Ukrainian citizens had been deported against their will to Russia.

In the midst of Kiev’s efforts to recover the southern Ukrainian territory, the newly-appointed commander of Moscow’s activities in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, has said the state of Russia’s “special military operation” in Kherson is “very difficult”.

“The Russian army will ensure the safe evacuation of the population,” Surovikin said.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has made major advances along the western bank of the Dnipro river, which is also known as the right bank. These advances were made near Kherson. The chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Ukraine has expressed his desire to retake control of the city before the end of the current calendar year.

The Kremlin declared the previous week that its forces would aid evacuate residents of seized Kherson to other locations in order to get residents out of harm’s way. This announcement is the latest evidence that Russian forces are suffering in the face of advances made by the Ukrainian military.

The Russian “evacuations” have been described as a “semi-voluntary deportation of the Ukrainian population” by the deputy head of the Kherson region for the Ukrainian government. The practise has been labelled as possibly being a crime against humanity by a number of international authorities as well as human rights organisations, who have expressed extreme concern about the matter.

The Ukrainian military said Monday that Russian forces were busy building fortifications in the Kherson region and that they were moving civilians to Crimea.

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The Russian-backed leader in Ukraine’s Kherson region also announced Tuesday that there would be a further “organized relocation” of civilians away from frontline settlements.

“I took the difficult but correct decision to announce the organized relocation of the civilian population of Beryslav, Bilozerka, Snihurivka and Oleksandrivka communities to the left bank of the Dnipro river,” Vladimir Saldo said on Telegram, referring to the eastern bank of the river.
“This decision was prompted by the creation of large-scale defensive fortifications so that any attack could be repelled. There is no place for civilians where the military operate. Let the Russian army do its job.”

According to Saldo, any civilians who made the decision to go “to the region of Russia” would be provided with assistance in finding suitable accommodation.

A little bit of history: According to a study published in July by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia’s “massive deportation of civilians” might be considered a crime against humanity, along with other alleged abuses.

The OSCE mission that compiled the report stated that there was evidence that tens of thousands of civilians had been detained at so-called filtration centres prior to being transported to Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. The mission wrote that 1.3 million Ukrainian citizens had been deported against their will to Russia. The mission also stated that there was evidence that 1.3 million Ukrainian citizens had been deported to Russia against their will.