Russia's defence ministry on Tuesday accused Ukraine of launching attempted drone strikes against civil infrastructure targets in two southern Russian regions overnight, but said the attacks had failed.
Pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, on Saturday urged residents of the region's eponymous main city to leave "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counter-offensive.
Around five million people, from the parts of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed to have annexed, have left for Russia, a security official was quoted Wednesday as saying by Russian state news agencies.
A Kyiv-appointed official in Ukraine's Kherson region that Moscow claims to have annexed said Wednesday that the announced evacuation of civilians from the region's eponymous main city was the equivalent of deportation.