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Russia admits Kherson 'tense' under shelling_我的网站

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A | Moscow, Oct 19 (UNI) The commander of Russian forces in Ukraine says the situation in the southern city of Kherson is "difficult" and residents are to be evacuated.

General Sergei Surovikin said Ukrainian troops using Himars rockets were hitting the city's infrastructure and housing. He spoke on Russian state TV.

"The Russian army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population" of Kherson, he said.

His rare admission of big problems was echoed by a top local official, the BBC reported.

Russian-installed regional official Kirill Stremousov warned Kherson residents that "in the very near future" Ukrainian troops would launch an assault on the city.

"Please take my words seriously - I'm talking about evacuating as quickly as possible," he said on the Telegram messaging service. He added that people on the River Dnieper's west bank (called Dnipro in Ukraine) were most at risk.

This was confirmed by the region's Governor Vladimir Saldo, who was also appointed by Russia, in a video message.

Kherson was the first big city to fall to the Russians, back in February.

Ukrainian forces have been steadily retaking nearby territory for the past few weeks. They have pushed as far as 30km (19 miles) south along the Dnieper, threatening to trap Russian troops, the BBC said.

"As a whole the situation in the special military operation zone can be described as tense," Gen Surovikin said.

Kherson is the only Ukrainian regional capital to have been captured by the Russians in their invasion. The Kremlin now claims Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia - a claim rejected internationally.

Gen Surovikin, who has a reputation for harsh methods, said Ukraine's volley of rockets had damaged Kherson's Antonivsky Bridge and the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, blocking traffic along those key arteries that had created supply problems for essential services, namely food deliveries, water and electricity, he said.

He also said the Ukrainians were launching constant attacks across a wide front - in the areas of Kupiansk and Lyman in the east and, in the south, on the Mykolaiv-Krivyi Rih front.

The scale of the planned "evacuation" from Kherson is not yet clear. If Russia forces people to leave their homes it could constitute a war crime, under the UN's definition, the BBC said.

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B | Brussels, Oct 13 (UNI) Ukraine's Nato-led allies have announced deliveries of advanced air defence weapons to Kyiv after a spate of Russian missile strikes.

The weaponry promised by the UK, Canada, France and the Netherlands includes missiles and radars. The US earlier made a similar pledge. One high-tech system from Germany is already in Ukraine, BBC reported.

The pledges come as Ukraine's allies from 50 countries meet at the Nato headquarters in Brussels. Kyiv hailed the summit as "historic", BBC said.

Hours later, Russian shelling hit the southern city of Mykolaiv on Thursday morning.

Monday and Tuesday saw some of the heaviest Russian bombardment in months when more than 100 missiles were launched, hitting energy infrastructure and other non-military targets. At least 19 people were killed on the first day of the strikes, which included hitting central Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the missile strikes were retaliation for an attack on a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea -- Ukraine's southern peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The UK will donate air defence missiles, as well as hundreds of aerial drones to support Ukraine's information gathering and logistics capabilities. It will also provide 18 howitzer artillery guns in addition to the 64 already delivered.

"Russia's latest indiscriminate strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine warrant further support to those seeking to defend their nation," said British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would supply air defence systems to Ukraine, the BBC reported.

The Netherlands said it would deliver €15m ($14.5m) worth of air defence missiles. Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said the Russian attacks "can only be met with unrelenting support for Ukraine and its people".

Canada pledged to provide more than C$47m ($34m) worth of military aid, including satellite communications and drone cameras.

Ukraine's military announced on Wednesday that the first of several "state-of-the-art IRIS-T SLM has been delivered from Germany to Ukraine". It said the air defence system would help protect the country "against terror".

Russia has repeatedly warned Ukraine's allies against supplying advanced weaponry to Kyiv, stressing this would make them participants of the war that Putin began in February.

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