The pro-Russian “government” of Ukraine’s Kherson region has shut down the borders with Ukraine-controlled regions, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports.
“Crossing the border from the side of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions is very dangerous, considering the systematic shelling by Ukrainian militants. After the latest attack from their side, civilians who were in the buffer zone were killed. This is why we do not recommend going to Ukraine under any circumstances. We receive many reports of men disappearing and being drafted into the army as cannon fodder,” Kirill Stremousov, who calls himself the deputy head of the new “military-civil administration” of the region, said.
He noted that currently, residents of the Kherson region can leave for Crimea or for the “liberated” part of the Zaporizhzhia region. From there, they can reach the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR” and “LPR”).
On 26 April, the Russian Defence Ministry reported that Kyiv had lost control of the entire Kherson region. Shortly before that, Hennadiy Lahuta, the legitimate head of the Kherson region, said that the Russian military had appointed their own «government officials.» Russian occupation forces appointed former mayor of Kherson Volodymyr Saldo as the region’s “governor” and Oleksandr Kobets as “mayor” of Kherson.
After that, local officials reported that Kherson would switch to the ruble zone starting 1 May. So far, payment in both Ukraine’s hryvnia and the Russian ruble is allowed in the region. Besides, Russian TV channels are transmitted in the occupied area. Local Internet provider SkyNET earlier switched to Russia’s Rostelecom network, and local telephone operators switched to +7, the phone code of Russia.
On 25 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree easing Russian citizenship rules for residents of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Earlier, only residents of “DPR” and “LPR” could apply for expedited Russian citizenship.
