Kherson civilians flee Russian shelling

Guardian:

Russia-Ukraine war live: civilians flee Russian shelling of Kherson

From 7h ago

07.00 GMT

Kherson civilians flee Russian shelling

Ukrainians have streamed out of Kherson to flee Russian shelling, just weeks after celebrating Ukraine’s recapture of the southern city.

Associated Press reported that a line of trucks, vans and cars – some towing trailers or ferrying out pets and other belongings – stretched a kilometre or more on the outskirts of Kherson on Saturday.

Days of intensive shelling by Russian forces prompted a bittersweet exodus: many civilians were happy that their city had been won back but lamented that they couldn’t stay.

“It is sad that we are leaving our home,” said Yevhen Yankov, as a van he was in inched forward.


Now we are free, but we have to leave, because there is shelling, and there are dead among the population.

Poking her head out from the back, Svitlana Romanivna added:


We went through real hell. Our neighborhood was burning, it was a nightmare. Everything was in flames.

Emilie Fourrey, emergency project coordinator for aid group Doctors Without Borders in Ukraine, said an evacuation of 400 patients of Kherson’s psychiatric hospital, which is situated near both an electrical plant and the frontline, had begun on Thursday and was set to continue in the coming days.

Russia has ratcheted up its attacks on critical infrastructure after suffering battlefield setbacks. A prominent Russian nationalist said Saturday that the Russian military didn’t have enough doctors – a rare public admission of problems within the military.

A line of cars near a Ukrainian monument leave Kherson on Saturday amid the civilian exodus. Photograph: Bernat Armangué/AP