Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region should be evacuated from the conflict zone, the Kremlin chief’s first acknowledgement of a deteriorating situation in a region he claims to have annexed. Putin’s remark, which came unprompted after one activist told the Russian president on Red Square about his work delivering Russian flags to Kherson, was shown on state television and reported by state news agency RIA. The comment comes amid growing questions about whether Russian forces will stay and wage a bloody battle for the city of Kherson, or were signaling an imminent retreat. Some Ukrainian officials warned Thursday that signs of a potential Russian withdrawal from the crucial southern city could be a trap. He said that Russian forces would likely soon give up the west bank of the Dnipro to Ukraine.

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