Civilians told to flee as Moscow loses grip on Kherson

STORY: The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's southern Kherson region told residents on Thursday to take their children and flee, in one of the starkest signs yet that Moscow is losing its grip on territory it claims to have annexed.

In a video statement on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo publicly asked for Moscow's help transporting people to Russia.

"The targets that the missiles hit are hotels, residential houses, markets - where there are lots of civilians. Because of this the Kherson administration has decided to organise opportunities for Kherson families to travel to other regions of Russia for leisure and study."

A flight of civilians from Kherson would be a major blow to Russia. Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces that Russia claims to have annexed in recent weeks, and arguably the most strategically important.

Since the start of October, Ukrainian forces have burst through Russia's front line there in their biggest advance in the south since the war began.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the losses with a dramatic escalation, firing more than 100 missiles across the country this week. Putin said the strikes were retaliation for a blast that damaged Russia's bridge to Crimea.

Missiles struck Zaporizhzhia again this week, raising fears that a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could release radioactive clouds or result in a reactor meltdown.

Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency - traveled between Russia and Kyiv in another effort to establish a safe zone around the plant.

"There has to be a recognition that this nuclear power plant cannot be a military target of any sort, in any way, intended or unintended. So this is why we are trying to work on a perimeter. We are trying to work on a way that can exclude it from any exchanges."

The plant has been occupied by Russian troops since early in the war.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow must be made to comply with the demilitarization of the nuclear power plant.

Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Zelenskiy also said Ukraine has only about 10% of what it needs to protect itself against Russian air attacks.

“We want to have a possibility to close the sky. Our capabilities are not enough. Germany opened up this possibility by providing the first IRIS-T system, the United States of America confirmed its support with NASAMS. We would like a lot for this support to be much bigger."

In Brussels, NATO allies meeting Thursday unveiled plans to beef up Europe's air defenses with Patriot and other missile systems.

While Moscow said more military aid for Kyiv made members of the alliance "a direct party to the conflict" and said admitting Ukraine to NATO would trigger a global conflict.