Mayor advises all Mykolaiv residents to evacuate – city under Russian attack

ALONA MAZURENKO – FRIDAY, 24 JUNE 2022, 12:53

Oleksandr Sienkevych, the Mayor of Mykolaiv, said that the situation in the city of Mykolaiv is dangerous due to constant Russian shelling. He urged the residents of Mykolaiv to evacuate to safer areas.

Source: Radio Svoboda [Radio Liberty - ed.]

Quote from Sienkevych: "Overall, the situation is bad. Every day we are being shelled. As of today, a total of 111 people have been killed, including one child. In addition, 502 people have been wounded, including six children [as of 21 June – ed.].

We are being shelled every day, with different types of munitions. Around 80% of those munitions are cluster munitions. This means they are fired from Smerch [Tornado - ed.] or Uragan [Hurricane - ed.] multiple-launch rocket systems.

I advise everyone to leave the city – everyone who wants to survive. Because it’s not clear when all of this will be over. As of today, according to our counts, around 230,000 Mykolaiv residents remain in the city, out of 480,000 people who lived here before the war."

Details: Sienkevych urged civilians not to return to Mykolaiv until Ukrainian troops push Russian forces back to Kherson or even Crimea.

According to Sienkevych, Russian forces are firing on Mykolaiv from Kherson Oblast, making it difficult to sound sirens in time due to the short distance between the cities.

The siren often sounds only after the attacks take place.

Russian forces are also deploying high-precision missiles in attacks on Mykolaiv, including in recent attacks on military infrastructure and on the Oblast State Administration premises.

In addition, there are issues with the supply of drinking water. The city’s economy has stalled. Large factories and other enterprises are not working. Likewise, 90% of medium-sized businesses also remain closed.