In the occupied Kherson region, they announced the "organized transfer of the civilian population to the left bank of the Dnipro." Volodymyr Saldo, the acting governor, announced this on October 18.
"There is an immediate danger of flooding the territories in connection with the planned destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP and the discharge of water from the cascade of power plants above the Dnipro," said the collaborator Saldo.
Berislavsky, Bilozersky, Snigurivskyi and Oleksandrivskyi districts fall under "organized displacement". This decision, according to the collaborator, "was caused by the creation of large-scale defensive fortifications so that any attack would be repelled."
In addition, the commander of the Russian troops in the war against Ukraine, General Surovikin, said that further actions regarding Kherson will depend on the "difficult military-tactical situation; the adoption of difficult decisions is not excluded."
The situation in the Kherson region
At the beginning of October, the fighting in the region intensified significantly — on its right bank, where the Russian garrison had been defending itself against the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army for more than a month. All this time, the Defense Forces of Ukraine are hitting the Dnipro crossings, and because of this, it is much more difficult for the Russians to bring in reinforcements and ammunition.
Since August 29, the Ukrainian military has achieved certain successes and liberated several villages in the north of the Kherson region and on the left bank of the Inhulets River. On October 2, the Ukrainian army managed to make a serious breakthrough, which collapsed part of the front of the occupiers and forced them to withdraw to another line of defense. Defense forces of Ukraine broke through along the right bank of the Dnipro from the village of Osokorivka. In one or two days, the Ukrainian army advanced approximately 25 kilometers to the village of Dudchany. This created a great flanking threat for the Russian troops in the north of the Kherson region, and they hastily abandoned their positions. In total, since the beginning of October, Ukraine has recaptured more than 1,100 square kilometers in the Kherson region.
Active hostilities also continue to the west of Kherson. The Ukrainian army has not had much success here, but the Defense Forces actually approached the outskirts of the city of Snihurivka, Mykolaiv region. It is the largest settlement in the occupied part of the Mykolaiv region and an important logistics hub — the railway track and the highway to Kherson pass through the city.
- On October 16, it became known that the Russians began evacuating "state institutions" from the Kherson region to the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.