GENICHESK, April 16./TASS/. Ukrainian soldiers are hunkering down in abandoned apartments in Kherson, disguising themselves as local residents with permission from the authorities of the Kiev-controlled part of the Kherson Region, Governor Vladimir Saldo said.

According to him, the head of the Kiev-appointed military administration, Alexander Prokudin, has allowed Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries to settle in apartments left by residents in downtown Kherson. "[He] gave a token warning that they not pillage, though. And the fighters gladly bit at this chance: moving into the best apartments in buildings that don’t overlook the Dnieper, so that in case of a hit, civilians would bear the brunt," Saldo wrote on his Telegram channel.

He added that troops use at their discretion the possessions of the people who used to live in these apartments. "They walk in civilian clothes, they leave cars away from the apartments - in the yards. They disguise themselves as civilians, looting them," the governor said.