SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2023) Acting governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on Friday that the counteroffensive of Ukrainian troops in the region would be launched in the coming days or hours.
"We understand that a counteroffensive will happen in the near future. It can happen in days, perhaps even hours ... According to information from our people in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and other cities where they are fighting against the (Ukrainian) regime, as well as information from the line of contact - the enemy is gathering forces," Balitsky told the Solovyov Live show.
The Ukrainian military is evicting the frontline zone, including the city of Stepnohirsk, Balitsky noted, adding that the preparations for repelling the offensive continue.
The authorities of the Zaporizhzhia region also decided to temporarily resettle residents living in a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) zone from the combat line to the south of the region, the governor said.
On the same day, the region's deputy prime minister for economics Andrey Kozenko told reporters that up to 70,000 people will be resettled from the frontline areas.
"A total of up to 70,000 people are expected to be relocated. There are priority categories � these are children, families with children ... they are moving to the city of Berdyansk," Kozenko said, adding that the relocation of people to safe areas is voluntary.
Education in the front-line regions has also been suspended, Kozenko noted.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in early April that Kiev had scheduled its counteroffensive for the summer, while US media reported that it was expected to start on April 30. Later in April, the Foreign Policy newspaper reported, citing Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandra Ustinova, that Kiev indeed had hoped to launch its counteroffensive in April, but later postponed it indefinitely due to a shortage of weapons.
