According to Kryuchkov, Kyiv began a policy of terror, blockades and stuffing against the civilian population of the territories liberated from Ukrainian troops.

He drew attention to the fact that representatives of the Ukrainian side are frightening with a counteroffensive and urging residents of the southern regions to leave.

Kryuchkov said that Kyiv is aware that a referendum in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions is inevitable and will definitely be held.

“The reunification of these historically Russian lands with Russia is a foregone conclusion, and the attempts of the Kyiv regime to prevent this are doomed to failure,” he said. 

Earlier, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were tasked with recapturing the south of the country.