KIEV, November 20. /TASS/. Ukraine is preparing to evacuate some Kherson residents, Irina Vereshchuk, the minister for the reintegration of uncontrolled territories, said on Saturday.
She said a voluntary evacuation is already starting in the areas of southern Ukraine that recently went under Kiev’s control, first of all, Kherson. The government, she said, will fund the relocation.
"Everybody could move to safer regions, if they wish, and the government will provide for their transportation, accommodation, health care and other things," she said, the Ukrinform news service reported.
The minister said it won’t be a sweeping evacuation but it was offered because people are expected to struggle through the winter.
On November 9, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered a pullback of Russian forces from the western bank of the Dnieper, where Kherson is located, agreeing to a proposal by Sergey Surovikin, commander of the integrated group of forces in the special military operation zone.
Surovikin stressed that Russian forces had been successfully repelling Ukrainian attacks, and the decision to pull back was due to the risk that the group could be isolated if the area below the Kakhovskaya HPP dam is flooded. According to the commander, all civilians who agreed to evacuate, or more than 115,000 people, had been relocated to the eastern bank.