OUTSKIRTS OF KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) – Small buses and dozens of cars left Kherson on Friday as the southern Ukrainian city prepared to start a 58-hour curfew following a spate of Russian attacks before a widely expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Kherson, which Ukraine recaptured from Russian troops last November after eight months of Russian occupation, is regularly bombarded from across the River Dnipro where Moscow’s forces control swathes of the Kherson region.
Two villages in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Kherson region were hit four times on Friday by Russian guided bombs that destroyed a church building and damaged 20 residential homes, the regional administration said.
One person was also wounded in the attacks, it said without providing details. On Wednesday, 23 people were killed by Russian shelling in the region, local officials said.
The city of Kherson is set to begin the unusually long curfew on Friday evening. Reuters reporters witnessed residents leaving in their cars and in small buses although others remained in the city.
“No one will lock people in houses, people will be able, if they need, to go out near (the house) to buy what they need,” Oleksander Tolokonnikov, a spokesperson for the Kherson regional military administration, said.
“The curfew is caused by the fact that law enforcement agencies have to conduct their activities in Kherson and therefore the city is closed to entry and exit,” he said in televised comments.
Ukraine is widely expected to launch its counter-offensive in the coming days or weeks. Russia occupies swathes of territory in Ukraine’s east and south which it captured after launching a full-scale invasion in February last year.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage)
