The head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych, called the occupiers' reports about a possible shelling of Kherson by the Ukrainian Armed Forces a fake and called on local residents to ignore them.
"Now the Russian occupiers are spreading cynical fakes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are allegedly planning massive shelling of residential areas of Kherson. Under this far-fetched pretext, the invaders and their henchmen are taking people out of the city to the other side of the Dnipro or to Russia," Yanushevych said on Telegram.
He urged Kherson residents not to succumb to "cynical provocations".
"The Armed Forces of Ukraine will never shell civilians. The life of every citizen is important for Ukraine. After all, we are not barbarians, not terrorists, not Russians," he said.
The occupying administratio in Kherson Region ordered residents to leave the city on 22 October and cross to the left bank of the Dnipro.