Putin declares martial law in 4 Ukrainian regions, as fight over key port city looms

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced martial law on Wednesday in four Ukrainian regions he says are part of Russia, as some residents of the Russian-held city of Kherson left by boat after Moscow warned of a looming assault.

The battle for Kherson — a major port city on the Dnipro River — is a pivotal moment for both Ukraine and Russia heading into winter, when cold and difficult conditions could largely freeze front lines until the spring thaw.

What had previously been a trickle of evacuations from Kherson in recent days was becoming a flood.

The images of people fleeing the city were broadcast by Russian state TV, which portrayed the exodus as an attempt to clear the city of civilians before it became a combat zone. Residents, many with small children, could be seen crowding the river's banks, crossing to the east.

The mass evacuation of civilians from one of the first major cities Russia seized in the invasion of Ukraine is a tacit acknowledgement that yet another stinging battlefield defeat may be unfolding for Putin. It's also the biggest population centre Moscow has seized and held since its "special military operation" began Feb. 24. The city is on territory that Putin says is now formally incorporated into Russia, a move Ukraine and the West do not recognize.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the local Russia-backed administration, made a video appeal after Russian forces in the area were driven back by 20 to 30 kilometres in the last few weeks. They risk being pinned against the western bank of the 2,200-kilometre-long river. The region's Moscow-installed administrators now appear to be hoping that the Dnipro's wide, deep waters will act as a natural barrier against those approaching forces.

Moscow-backed authorities have said evacuations from occupied territories are voluntary. But in many cases, the only routes out are to Russia.

One resident reached by phone described columns of military vehicles leaving the city, Moscow-installed authorities scrambling to load documents onto trucks, and thousands of people lining up for ferries and buses. 

"It looks more like a panic rather than an organized evacuation. People are buying the last remaining groceries in grocery shops and are running to the Kherson river port, where thousands of people are already waiting," the resident, Konstantin, said. The Associated Press is withholding his family name, as he requested, for his safety. 

Martial law

In a move that looked designed to help Russia firm its grip on four Ukrainian regions it partly occupies and seeks to fully control — including the Kherson region — Putin told his Security Council he was introducing martial law in them. He also gave emergency extra powers to the heads of Russian regions and issued a decree restricting movement in and out of eight regions adjoining Ukraine.

Putin didn't immediately spell out the powers that martial law would grant. But they could include restrictions on travel and public gatherings, tighter censorship and broader powers for law enforcement agencies.

Putin's order also opens the door for restrictive measures to be extended across Russia. That may lead to an even tougher crackdown on dissent in Russia, where authorities have quickly dispersed anti-war protests and jailed many under new legislation that criminalizes any statements or information about the fighting that differs from the official line.

U.S., Ukraine dismiss Putin's move

Kyiv derided the move.

"This does not change anything for Ukraine: we continue the liberation and de-occupation of our territories," presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin had found himself in a difficult position and his only tool was to brutalize Ukrainian civilians. The U.S. State Department said it was no surprise that Russia was resorting to "desperate tactics."

Several Ukrainian soldiers said they were aware of the martial law declaration but were not worried, although they warned a visiting Reuters reporter of the danger presented by Russian drones.

"For sure [Putin's] up to no good. We understand that," said Yaroslav, who declined to give his last name. "But whatever they are doing, we will screw them anyway."

Oleh, who also withheld his last name, said Russia in the past had warned about what it claimed would be escalatory Ukrainian actions, only to carry them out itself.

"We are just concerned about our people in the Kherson region," he said.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, though the conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverized Ukrainian cities, shaken the global economy and reopened Cold War-era geopolitical fissures.

The Russian-installed chief of Kherson region said about 50,000 to 60,000 people would be evacuated from the region in the next six days. The city of Kherson had a pre-war population of around 280,000 people but many of them have since fled.

Russian commander with gloomy assessment of Kherson

The evacuation calls followed a gloomy assessment of Russia's prospects in the area from Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

"The situation in the area of the special military operation can be described as tense," Surovikin told state-owned Rossiya 24 news channel. "The situation in [Kherson] is difficult. The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings." 

Russian bloggers have interpreted Surovikin's comments as a warning of a possible pullback of Moscow's forces.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the operation could be a precursor for intense fighting and "the harshest" tactics from Surovikin.

"They are prepared to wipe the city from the face of the Earth but not give it back to the Ukrainians," Zhdanov said in an interview. "The Russians want to show that Ukraine's counteroffensive will run into a harsh response from the Kremlin, which has declared these territories a part of Russia, and it's scary to even think about what that response might look like."

After being routed from around the capital, Kyiv, and then pushed back in the south and east by the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in late summer, with the backing of Western-supplied weaponry, Moscow is now increasingly resorting to targeting Ukraine's power plants and other energy infrastructure, threatening a miserable winter for millions of Ukrainians. 

Zelenskyy urges power rationing

Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to make "a very conscious" effort to save power, speaking before another night where substations and other infrastructure were pounded.

Ukraine will start restricting electricity supplies across the country on Thursday, an aide to Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

"From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., it is necessary to minimize the use of electricity.… If this is not done, you should prepare for temporary blackouts," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskyy's office, said in a Telegram post. 

Across Ukraine, Russian strikes killed at least six civilians and wounded 16 in the latest 24-hour period, the president's office said Wednesday. It said Russian forces attacked nine southeastern regions of Ukraine using drones, rockets and heavy artillery, focusing on energy facilities.

In other news related to the war, the people of Ukraine and their representatives were awarded the European Union's top human rights prize Wednesday for their resistance to Russia's invasion.

The award, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honour individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989.

It's the second straight year EU lawmakers used the Sakharov Prize to send a message to the Kremlin. Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won it last year.