Russia starts partial evacuation from southern Ukraine

Russia has started evacuating hundreds of civilians from occupied areas in south-eastern Ukraine, including families with children from a town housing workers at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, raising fresh concerns about its safety.

The evacuations that started over the weekend come as Russian officials accuse Ukraine of stepping up drone strikes on its territory and in Russian-occupied Crimea, moves seen by analysts as preparations for a spring counteroffensive by Kyiv. Russia, in turn, has in recent weeks increased its own drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.