The Russian-installed leader of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson says authorities are banning civilians from entering the region for seven days amid escalating pressure from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Speaking on state television on Wednesday, Russian-installed governor Vladimir Saldo said the region had the resources to hold on to the city of Kherson and that the move was needed to “keep civilians safe.”

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the administration of the Russian Kherson Region, said despite the West pushing Kyiv to active military operations, Ukrainian troops would not be allowed to enter the city of Kherson.

Earlier, Mr Saldo said the decision had been made to move the civilian population of the Berislav, Belozersky, Snigirevsky and Aleksandrovsky municipalities to the left bank of the Dnieper.

“According to the information we have, the Ukro-Nazis, pushed by the West, will soon begin an offensive on the city of Kherson.

“Shelling of the city of Kherson and the right-bank part of the Kherson Region is not ruled out,” Mr Stremousov said in a video message published on his Telegram channel.

He said the population living on the right-bank part of the Dnieper River in the Kherson Region was strongly recommended to move to the left-bank part of the region or go to other subjects of the Russian Federation during the hostilities.

“We are not going to surrender the city. We will stand to the end. We will not let the Nazis into the city,” Mr Stremousov said.

On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in the Kremlin after referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

Mr Putin afterwards signed treaties with the new territories’ heads on the admission of the regions to Russia.

A few days later, Putin signed federal laws ratifying the admission of the territories to the Russian Federation.

(Reuters/NAN)