Putin declares martial law in 4 Ukrainian regions, as fight over key port city looms

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin introduced martial law on Wednesday in fourUkrainian regions he says are part of Russia, as some residentsof the Russian-held city of Kherson left by boat after Moscowwarned of a looming assault.

The battle for Kherson a major port city on the Dnipro River is a pivotal moment for both Ukraine and Russia heading into winter, when cold and difficult conditions could largely freeze front lines until the spring thaw.

What had previously been a trickle of evacuations from Khersonin recent days was becoming a flood.

The images of people fleeing the citywere broadcast byRussian state TV, which portrayed the exodus as an attempt toclear the city of civilians before it became a combat zone.Residents, many with small children, could be seen crowding the river's banks,crossing to the east.

The mass evacuationof civilians from one of the first major cities Russia seized in the invasion of Ukraine isa tacit acknowledgement that yet another stinging battlefield defeat may be unfolding for Putin. It's also the biggest population centreMoscow has seizedand held since its "special military operation" beganFeb. 24. The city is on territory that Putin says is now formally incorporated into Russia, amove Ukraine and the West do not recognize.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the local Russia-backedadministration, made a video appeal after Russian forces in thearea were driven back by 20 to 30 kilometresin the last fewweeks. They risk being pinned against the western bank of the2,200-kilometre-long river. The region's Moscow-installed administrators now appearto be hoping that the Dnipro's wide, deep waters will act as a natural barrier against those approaching forces.

Moscow-backed authorities have said evacuations from occupied territories are voluntary. But in many cases, the only routes out are to Russia.

One resident reached by phone described columns of military vehicles leaving the city, Moscow-installed authorities scrambling to load documents onto trucks, and thousands of people lining up for ferries and buses.

"It looks more like a panic rather than an organized evacuation. People are buying the last remaining groceries in grocery shops and are running to the Kherson river port, where thousands of people are already waiting," the resident, Konstantin, said. The Associated Pressis withholding his family name, as he requested, for his safety.

Martial law

In a move that looked designed to help Russia firm itsgrip on four Ukrainian regions it partly occupies and seeks tofully control including the Kherson region Putin told hisSecurity Council he was introducing martial law in them.He also gave emergency extra powers to the heads of Russian regions and issued a decree restricting movement in and out of eight regions adjoining Ukraine.

Putin didn't immediately spell out the powers that martial law would grant. But they could include restrictions on travel and public gatherings, tighter censorship and broader powers for law enforcement agencies.

Putin's order also opens the door for restrictive measures to be extended across Russia. That may lead to an even tougher crackdown on dissent in Russia, where authorities have quickly dispersed anti-war protests and jailed many under new legislation that criminalizes any statements or information about the fighting that differs from the official line.

U.S., Ukraine dismiss Putin's move

Kyiv derided the move.

"This does not change anything for Ukraine: we continuethe liberation and de-occupation of our territories," presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyaktweeted.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin had found himself ina difficult position and his only tool was to brutalize Ukrainian civilians. TheU.S. State Department said it was no surprise that Russia wasresorting to "desperate tactics."

Several Ukrainian soldiers said they were aware of themartial law declaration but were not worried, although they warneda visiting Reuters reporter of the danger presented byRussian drones.

"For sure [Putin's]up to no good. We understand that,"said Yaroslav, who declined to give his last name. "But whatever they are doing, we will screw them anyway."

Oleh, who also withheld his last name, said Russia in thepast had warned about what it claimed would be escalatory Ukrainian actions, only to carry them out itself.

"We are just concerned about our people in the Khersonregion," he said.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, though theconflict has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverizedUkrainian cities, shaken the global economy and reopened ColdWar-era geopolitical fissures.

The Russian-installed chief of Kherson region said about 50,000 to 60,000 people would be evacuated from the region in thenext six days. The city of Kherson had a pre-war population ofaround 280,000 people but many of them have since fled.

Russian commander with gloomy assessment of Kherson

The evacuation calls followed a gloomy assessment ofRussia's prospects in the area from Gen.Sergei Surovikin,the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

"The situation in the area of the special military operationcan be described as tense," Surovikin toldstate-owned Rossiya 24 news channel. "The situation in [Kherson]is difficult. The enemy is deliberately strikinginfrastructure and residential buildings."

Russian bloggers have interpretedSurovikin's comments as a warning of a possible pullback of Moscow's forces.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the operation could be a precursor for intense fighting and "the harshest" tactics from Surovikin.

"They are prepared to wipe the city from the face of the Earth but not give it back to the Ukrainians," Zhdanov said in an interview. "The Russians want to show that Ukraine's counteroffensive will run into a harsh response from the Kremlin, which has declared these territories a part of Russia, and it's scary to even think about what that response might look like."

After being routed from around the capital, Kyiv, and then pushed back in the south and east by the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in late summer, with the backing of Western-supplied weaponry, Moscow is now increasingly resorting to targeting Ukraine's power plants and other energy infrastructure, threatening a miserable winter for millions of Ukrainians.

Zelenskyy urges power rationing

Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to make "a very conscious" effort to save power, speaking before another night where substations and other infrastructure were pounded.

Ukraine will start restrictingelectricity supplies across the country on Thursday, an aide to Zelenskyy saidWednesday.

"From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., it is necessary to minimize the useof electricity.If this is not done, you should prepare for temporary blackouts," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head ofZelenskyy's office, said in a Telegram post.

Across Ukraine, Russian strikes killed at least six civilians and wounded 16 in the latest 24-hour period, the president's office said Wednesday. It said Russian forces attacked nine southeastern regions of Ukraine using drones, rockets and heavy artillery, focusing on energy facilities.

In other news related to the war, the people of Ukraine and their representatives were awarded the European Union's top human rights prize Wednesday for their resistance to Russia's invasion.

The award, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honour individuals or groups who defend humanrights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989.

It's the second straight year EU lawmakers used the Sakharov Prize to send a message to the Kremlin. Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won it last year.