Russian Soldiers Looting as They Flee Zaporizhzhia, Kherson—Report

Russian-installed officials and military personnel are fleeing the Ukrainian city of Ernehodar, near Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, the country's atomic power company has said.

In a post on its Telegram social media channel, Energoatom said that "looted property" was taken from Russian military buildings "and the occupying 'administration' of the city."

Energoatom said that the Russians took "everything possible" from the city's Skifsky Hotel and packed it into buses and trucks. The items included televisions, refrigerators, furniture, kettles and other household items, according to the company.

Energoatom described the actions as "evacuation with looting" which had been "authorized" by the decree announced by Vladimir Putin to declare martial law in Zaporizhzhya, and the other three oblasts he has claimed to have annexed—Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson.

Putin's move, announced on Wednesday, is expected to involve restrictions on travel and public gatherings, tighter censorship and more authority for law enforcement agencies.

"Anxiety, fear and expectation of defeat, which gripped the occupiers in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, reached Enerhodar as well," added Energoatom.

This referred to reports that pro-Russian officials were leaving the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson ahead of an advance on the city by Kyiv's forces.

The Russian-installed head of the key city, Vladimir Saldo, said there were plans to move 60,000 people across the Dnieper River and into Russia over the next six days, citing the dangers posed by the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

However, Andrii Yermak, the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has dismissed the evacuation as a "propaganda show" and told people not to heed Russia's warnings.

He accused Moscow of trying to frighten locals into fleeing "with fake messages about the shelling of the city."

Ukraine's military has not revealed the extent of its operation in Kherson but said on Thursday that 43 Russian servicemen had been killed and six tanks and other equipment destroyed.

British defense officials said on Thursday Russia's admission that a "difficult situation has emerged" in the Kherson region suggested Moscow was considering "a major withdrawal of their forces" from the area west of the Dnieper river.

This comes as Ukrainian officials told people to prepare for blackouts and energy shortages after Russian air strikes reportedly damaged nearly a third of the country's power stations. Electricity supply restrictions throughout the country would include street lights.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry and Energoatom for comment.