Mint/Wall Street Journal: Ukraine Urges Civilians to Flee Looming Russian Offensive in Eastern Regions
Ukraine urged civilians to leave the eastern Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions as it braced for a major new Russian offensive following Moscow’s withdrawal from the north of the country.
“You need to evacuate now, while this possibility still exists," Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister for occupied territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, said in a Ukrainian TV appearance Wednesday.
"Later, people will be under fire and under threat of death. We won’t be able to help because it will be practically impossible to cease fire."
Following heavy losses, Russia pulled its troops from the vicinity of Kyiv and from the northern Chernihiv and Sumy regions last week, in a strategy shift that the Kremlin says will allow it to focus on seizing the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, collectively known as Donbas, that remain under Ukrainian control.
Read more ....
Update #1: Ukraine governor urges evacuations in region targeted by Russia -- France 24
Update #2: Ukraine war: Luhansk could be 'even worse' than Mariupol as Russia attacks increase, says governor -- SKY News
WNU Editor: The expectation among U.S. and NATO military leaders is that the Russian military will be launching a major offensive in this part of Ukraine in the coming weeks.