Kiev troops tell Snigirevka residents to leave — local administration head

The armed forces of Ukraine are preparing to turn the Snigirevka Region into a fortified area and tell local residents to leave the district, the head of the local administration said.

"An interesting situation is now unfolding in the Snigirevka district," said Yury Barbashov, the head of the Kherson Region’s Snigirevka district.

"On the one hand, they are preparing to turn Snigirevka into a fortified position and on the other they warn local residents: ‘Get out of here, guys,’" he told the Soloviev Live TV channel.

In his words, Ukrainian military and security officers are "perfectly aware" that civilians are better to stay out. "The moods are close to panic there," Barbashov said, describing the general situation in the area as alarming.

Earlier, Barbashov told TASS that tanks are being deployed in the city, and mines are being installed on surrounding fields and roads. The second line of Ukrainian defenses will run along the right bank of the Ingulets River.

The city of Snigirevka and the village of Aleksandrovka in the Nikolayev Region, situated on the right bank of the Dnieper River, were included into Russia’s Kherson Region on September 21, 2022. On November 9, 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered that Russian troops be pulled from the right bank of the Dnieper River back to the left bank. All local residents willing to evacuate from the right bank of Dnieper - over 115,000 in total - were given an opportunity to do so.[TASS]