<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly approved the evacuation of civilians from parts of Russian-occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Kyiv's forces have been steadily advancing on the strategic port city.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Putin said people living in dangerous areas should leave as "the civilian population should not suffer".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least 70,000 people are reported to have been moved already from Kherson - the only major city gained by Moscow since its troops invaded in February.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Civilians at risk from shelling and attacks should be "removed", Mr Putin said, during the Unity Day holiday in Moscow's Red Square.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kyiv accuses Russia of forcibly deporting Ukrainian civilians - which is considered a war crime - although Moscow denies this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's intensive missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine have caused heavy casualties and damage, and forced Kyiv to impose frequent electricity blackouts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Putin's comments followed reports on Thursday that Russian soldiers, too, had been leaving Kherson - in what would mark a major withdrawal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Kremlin-installed official in the region, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian media that Moscow was "likely" to pull its troops from the area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian officials remained cautious, warning that the reported move could be a trap to lure their soldiers into dangerous areas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kherson was captured soon after Russia attacked its neighbour on 24 February, but recently Ukrainian forces have steadily recaptured territory on the city's outskirts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Civilians were first urged to leave Kherson in the middle of last month, as the Russian army switched the city to defensive mode.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Military commanders later said they had completed an operation to evacuate the city's residents, ahead of an expected battle there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia claims the Kherson region and three other Ukrainian regions as its own territory, though it does not fully control any of them. It hastily arranged local "referendums" to justify the claim - a move condemned internationally.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia also annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During Friday's speech in Red Square, Mr Putin also said some 318,000 military recruits had signed up for duty during a mobilisation, now complete - exceeding his target of 300,000.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of these, Mr Putin said 49,000 were already involved in active fighting - a figure not independently verified by the BBC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, a Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, has opened its first official headquarters, in St Petersburg.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its fighters are reported to be active in the Russian campaign in Ukraine, and it has recruited prisoners to fight there, in exchange for their sentences being commuted in Russia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wagner soldiers have repeatedly been accused of human rights violations, including in Syria, Libya and other conflicts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Putin has now amended the Russian law on calling up reservists to include men convicted of serious crimes who recently left prison.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The change means that convicted murderers and drug dealers who have recently been released could be conscripted to fight in Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Former prisoners convicted of sex crimes against children or terrorism are still excluded from serving.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his latest comments on the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked the "absolutely insane stubbornness of the owners of today's Russia".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said his enemy was uninterested in peace talks, but was instead sending "people to the meat grinder" - both mobilised troops and mercenary fighters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Referring to the week's "fiercest fighting", Mr Zelensky singled out the eastern towns of Bakhmut and Soledar. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>