Pro-Russian officials tell Kherson residents to leave

KYIV, Ukraine: Pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city “immediately” in the face of Kyiv´s advancing counter-offensive.

It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 36 rockets overnight in a “massive attack” on Ukraine, following reported strikes on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country.

And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the latest world leader to reproach Moscow for its talk of using nuclear weapons.

Kyiv´s forces have been advancing along the west bank of the Dnipro river, towards the Kherson region´s eponymous main city.

Kherson was the first major city to fall to Moscow´s troops, and retaking it would be a major prize in Ukraine´s counter-offensive.

In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region -- which Moscow claims to have annexed in September -- east to Russia, in efforts Kyiv has denounced as “deportations”.