Images broadcast by Russian state television show hundreds of civilians from the Ukrainian city of Kherson being evacuated since Wednesday by boat or bus.
These population displacements should concern 50 to 60,000 people in the coming days.
This region of southern Ukraine, occupied by the Russians since the spring and annexed at the end of September, is about to be taken over by the Ukrainian army, which for almost a month has resumed the military offensive on Russian troops.
An official of the Kherson region, Serguiï Khlan, denounced during a press conference, a "deportation" of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.
What the Kremlin denies en bloc, which invokes the fact of protecting the population, in the face of the risks of bombardments carried out by Ukraine near Kherson.
“It is unlikely that Russia cares about the lives of civilians,” comments General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN.
According to him, the evacuation of Kherson looks more like the first phase of a change in Russian strategy in the region.
“The Russians know now that they are going to lose Kherson.
We will see what will happen in the coming days, but it may be that these evacuations of civilians actually mask a withdrawal of Russian troops - 15,000 men - posted on the right bank of the Dnieper (river which borders the city of Kherson) ".
In an interview with Russian television channel RTR, the new commander of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine Sergei Surovikin confirmed that the situation in Kherson had become "tense", adding that "difficult decisions would be taken".
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