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Official says people to be evacuated from parts of Kherson Region due to risk of flooding

The voluntary relocation will be carried out in an organized manner and free of charge, the acting governor of the Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo said

KHERSON, October 19. /TASS/. Vladimir Saldo, the acting governor of the Kherson Region, on Tuesday said civilians living on the right bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson Region will be evacuated to the left bank due to the risk of flooding in the event that Ukrainian forces damage the up-river Kakhovskaya hydro power plant.

"There is an immediate danger of flooding of the territories due to the planned destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant and the discharge of water from the cascade of power plants upstream of the Dnieper. In this situation, I made a difficult but correct decision to declare an organized relocation of the civilian population of the Berislavsky, Belozyorsky, Snigiryovsky and Aleksandrovsky municipalities to the left bank of the Dnieper," he said on Telegram.

According to him, the voluntary relocation will be carried out in an organized manner and free of charge.

"Our key task is to save human lives and allow the troops of the Russian Federation to effectively perform their functions to protect the Kherson Region. We will take the civilian population to the left bank in an organized and phase-by-phase manner. The residents of the region who decide to move to further off regions of Russia will be granted housing certificates by the Russian government. That was specifically stated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin," Saldo said.

The official also said that Ukraine "is massing huge forces in the Nikolayev and Krivoi Rog areas." He said another reason why the relocation decision was made is "the creation of large-scale defensive fortifications so that any attack is repulsed".

"I’m asking everyone to remain calm and not to listen to panic-mongers. The Kherson Region remains under the reliable protection of the Russian army," he said.

Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin on Tuesday said Russia has information that Kiev is preparing a massive missile strike on the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant.