‘Not a civilian evacuation’: Collaborators and Russians leaving Kherson, resident says
Fear is a powerful thing and it is motivating many to leave the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
With Ukrainian troops closing in on the city, thousands have left using ferries to cross the great Dnipro River.
Kherson was the first major city to fall to Vladimir Putin’s military after the invasion began in February and its recapture would represent a major prize for the Ukrainians.
In footage filmed for Sky News, we see people in Kherson boarding boats from the city’s piers, their bags and suitcases hauled speedily behind them.
However, who exactly are these evacuees? Russian officials say they are trying to remove all civilians, warning of Ukrainian shelling and “terrorist attacks”.
But in a detailed interview, one resident of Kherson told Sky News that the evacuation is not designed for them.
“This is not a civilian evacuation. The collaborators are running away and those who came to help the occupiers,” said Vlad, a local writer, activist and organiser, whose full name we are not using.
“In truth [those fleeing] number no more than a few thousand people a day.
“And who are those people they are taking out?
“Mostly it’s families of Russian officers, families of Russian officials and collaborators who helped to organise the referendum. Among them are teachers and doctors, municipal workers and kindergarten staff.
“Those who have taken Russian passports.”
Vlad, a Kherson activist,
‘Young Russian troops arriving’
Russian kindergarten workers were shipped in, our interviewee says, to help administer a discredited referendum that preceded Russia’s annexation of the region of Kherson.
There are new arrivals in the city, however, in the form of young and inexperienced Russian troops.
“I think because of the [Russian] mobilisation, we can see new soldiers entering Kherson in fresh uniforms. They are clean, without any dirt, and very young. A lot of them are like me, in glasses, we can see they are students – but not professional soldiers.”
Will the Russians try to defend the western side of the Dnipro River, of which Kherson city is a part? This is question is the source of much speculation.
‘Everything stolen’
Russia’s military chief, General Sergei Surovikin, seemed to raise the prospect of a withdrawal when he told an interviewer that the situation in Kherson has been “difficult”.
Our interviewee simply is not sure.
“I don’t think anybody knows, even the Russian soldiers,” he said. However, the large-scale looting of this city is not something that is open to question.
Sky News has seen pictures of ransacked shops and businesses with signs placed on the front. “Empty,” they read. “Everything’s stolen.” Our interviewee says that everything has been lifted, large and small.
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‘Russia plans to blow-up major dam’
“In the last few days, we’ve seen them take fire trucks, ambulances, equipment from the cancer clinic and the regional hospital, anything of high value. They take it quickly, load it in the cars and take it to Crimea. It’s the robbery of a city.”
He admitted that many are worried about a major upstream dam, located in the city of Nova Kakhovka.
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Both Russia and Ukraine have accused the other of plotting to destroy it. Our interviewee told us the destruction of the dam is unlikely to help the Russians.
“The water will go to the south where Russian troops are located. It could happen but it means they’ll be flooding themselves… But they have those moods, preferring to flood their own people than surrender.”
The next few days and weeks will be difficult, says Vlad. For now, the city’s liberation will not be won easily.
“It’s terrifying, terrifying.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
Read more:
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It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
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