The Moscow-installed occupation administration of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, as well as employees of “state and municipal institutions,” have left the city following the retreat of the Russian army from Kherson, according to a Telegram post issued by the “administration’s” press service. Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti published a similar report.
All employees “have been relocated to safe locations in the region,” the so-called “authorities” stressed.
The Telegram post said that the city was “under fire from large-caliber artillery and mortars of the Ukrainian army,” adding that life in Nova Kakhovka had become “unsafe.” The pro-Russian administration also claims that thousands of the town's residents had also left their homes.
“But this does not mean that Nova Kakhovka, Tavriisk and all other settlements have been abandoned. Utility company crews and services that ensure the functioning of power and water supply systems are on duty. Employees of social services, together with volunteers, provide food kits for lonely and immobile elderly people.”
There are currently no Internet or mobile communications in Nova Kakhovka, as fiberoptic lines have been damaged.
On November 12, Nova Kakhovka’s occupying authorities decided to evacuate far away from the Dnipro river. The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam (the dam also serves as a bridge over the Dnipro) lies near the town – on November 12, the road on the dam was blown up, cutting the only land-based transportation line between the left and right banks of the river. If the dam is completely destroyed, the nearest settlements will be flooded and the North Crimean Canal will be emptied, depriving Crimea of its water supply.