Occupation authorities in Kherson said they began evacuating residents from the western bank of the Dnipro river as the Kremlin-appointed leader in the southern Ukrainian region warned of a looming offensive by Kyiv.
But the claims of evacuation and an impending attack were part of a Russian disinformation campaign to lay the groundwork for an armed provocation that Moscow will blame on Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday.
Volodymyr Saldo, who was appointed by Moscow to lead Kherson following the illegal annexation of that region and Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia in late September, claimed in a video address on Tuesday night that Ukrainian forces would soon launch a “large-scale offensive”.
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