GENICHESK, November 18. /TASS/. The Kiev regime intends to turn the right bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson into a stronghold and a buffer zone, Alexander Malkevich, member of Russia’s Civic Chamber and freelance adviser to the Kherson Region acting governor, told TASS on Friday.
"To all appearances, they want to turn Kherson and a considerable part of the right bank [of the region] into a buffer zone and scorched earth. They will create their stronghold and deploy their missile systems there to strike everything adjacent to the left bank from there," he explained.
The Kiev regime and the Ukrainian military seek to "leave nothing alive" on the right bank of the Dnieper River, Malkevich said.
"This will be their continuous defense line and the line for an attack. They will apparently be recreating the Mariupol concept of using civilians as part of their shield," he explained.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his team profess and advance a policy of genocide and scorched earth, Malkevich pointed out.
On November 9, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin to relocate the troops to the left bank of the Dnieper River. The decision was made following Surovikin’s report to the defense chief on the operational situation in that area.
The commander said that Russian troops were successfully repelling Ukrainian army attacks while the decision on the troop relocation was also prompted by the risk of the battlegroup’s isolation over the potential flooding of territories below the Kakhovka hydropower plant. He emphasized that over 115,000 civilians who wished so had already evacuated from the right bank.