The Russian occupiers are unusually loud in alerting the residents of Cherson to a possible impending Ukrainian attack. While Kiev’s army remains silent, Kremlin chief Putin uses the tense situation of the Kremlin troops to impose martial law. Belarus begins screening its able-bodied citizens. The 238th day of the war at a glance.
Putin declares martial law in occupied territories
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in the areas of Ukraine annexed by Moscow. “I signed a decree introducing martial law in these four parts of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a televised meeting of the Russian Security Council. Russian martial law allows for, among other things, an increase in the armed forces, curfews, restrictions on movement, censorship and the internment of foreign citizens.
The decree also gives more powers to authorities in Russia’s border regions and in Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Putin’s announcement came as Ukrainian troops advanced into Moscow-controlled areas of Ukraine, including the Kherson region.
Kyiv: License to loot
The Ukrainian government reacted calmly to Putin’s latest moves. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said: “The martial law imposed by Russia in the occupied territories is nothing more than a pseudo-legitimation for the looting of Ukrainian property.” This changes nothing for Ukraine. “We will continue with the liberation and end of the occupation,” said Podoliak.
Occupiers “evacuate” residents of Kherson
Coinciding with Putin’s speech, the pro-Russian administration began withdrawing from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and evacuating civilians in the face of advancing Ukrainian troops. The pro-Russian chief administrator of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, told the Russian broadcaster Rossiya 24: “As of today, all government structures in the city, the civil and military administration, all ministries, will be relocated to the left bank of the Dnipro.”
Located near Moscow’s annexed Crimea peninsula, the city of Kherson, which once had 280,000 inhabitants, was the first major Ukrainian city to be occupied by Russian forces after Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24. At the end of September, Moscow annexed the area in southern Ukraine. For several weeks it has been the target of a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army, which has been able to keep advancing. Local pro-Russian authorities said they planned to evacuate up to 60,000 civilians from Kherson over a period of six days. According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, local residents received text messages urging them to leave the city “before the Ukrainian army starts bombing”.
Kyiv speaks of “deportation” and “propaganda show”
Kyiv accused Russia of saying the evacuation was tantamount to “deportation”. It is Moscow’s intention to stir up “a kind of panic in Kherson” and to create a “propaganda show,” said Serhiy Khlan, adviser to the Kherson regional governor, at a press conference. Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said in the online service Telegram that Ukrainian forces “are not firing on Ukrainian cities”.
The Ukrainian side gave no information on what was happening at the front in Cherson. However, military experts in London, Paris and Washington expect new Ukrainian advances. The secret services have been saying for days that Russia may be preparing to withdraw its own military forces from the Cherson area. The abandonment of the Russian-controlled areas west of the Dnipro would be another spectacular Ukrainian victory.
Concerns about border closures in Russia, Kremlin softens
Looking at the exact text of the martial law imposed by Putin, Russian experts pointed out that theoretically all regions of Russia could be affected in one way or another. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately countered fears that Russia would now close its borders to its own citizens. That was not planned, he told the state news agency Ria Nowosti. Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also emphasized that martial law in the four annexed areas will “currently” not affect the everyday life of the capital’s residents.
Wagner mercenaries secure front in Luhansk
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the Russian mercenary group Wagner says it is working on a fortified line of defense. “A fortification is being built along the line of contact,” said the group’s founder, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is close to the Kremlin, on the online channels of his company Concord. It is a “multi-tiered and layered defense,” he added, without giving details.
The Russian army also reported its own advances on Tuesday. Accordingly, the armed forces in the Kharkiv region recaptured the village of Gorobivka not far from the Russian border. It would be the first capture of a township since Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in the area.
New drone attacks on Kyiv: Steinmeier cancels trip
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian sources, Russia tried again to attack the center of the capital Kyiv with rockets. Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries shot down “several Russian missiles” over Kyiv, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. The air alert is not over yet, the air defense is “still in action,” wrote Klitschko. For security reasons, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier postponed a trip to Kyiv at short notice.
Since mid-September, Ukraine has counted the downing of more than 200 Iranian drones. Since the “first downing of an Iranian-made Shahed 136 kamikaze drone over Ukrainian territory on September 13 in Kupyansk,” the air defense system has “destroyed 223 drones of this type,” the Ukrainian army told Telegram.
Belarus starts with samples
According to Belarus, it has begun to test the military fitness of its citizens. Although citizens have been summoned to the examination, the country, which is allied with Russia, is not planning to mobilize, the Ministry of Defense said. “Military registration and enlistment activities are routine and are expected to be completed by the end of the year.”
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