Fearing Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Russians forming "human shields" in southern regions - army spox

Forcible evacuation and handing Russian passports to residents of the occupied areas in southern Ukraine continues.

That’s according to Natalia Humeniuk, head of the joint press center of Operational Command South, who spoke at the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"Forcible evacuation continues there, lists have been drawn up. Also, forcible passportization continues. They (Russians — ed.), themselves have an unstable morale - because everyone is fearing Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which is talked about a lot, but they do not know where to expect it from. So they are trying to pretend that they care about local people," she said.

According to the spokesperson, this "concern" manifests itself precisely in gathering the civilian population and transporting them to those locations where the Russians plan to deploy their units, therefore using these people as a human shield.

"This has already become a practice. We have long been observing this and we always take it into account in combat operations because when we engage the Dnipro’s left bank, the most important thing for us is that the civilian population isn’t affected," Humeniuk assured Ukrainians.

She added that the enemy units are constantly maneuvering and trying to find new locations, including observation posts, combat supply hubs, equipment and ammunition storage sites.

"But we methodically continue our work, too," spokesperson said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on April 2, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said the invaders were continuing to impose Russian citizenship on the population of the temporarily captured districts of Kherson region.