Kyiv, Ukraine - Russian authorities ordered all residents of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to leave "immediately" on Saturday ahead of the anticipated Ukrainian forces' advance. They launched a counterattack to retake the occupied area. The Kremlin-aligned regional administration urged civilians to use boat crossings over the Dnieper River to penetrate deep into Russian-controlled territory, citing the tense situation on the front line and the threat of shelling and alleged "terrorist attacks" by Kyiv.

Kherson has been in Russian hands since the early days of the February invasion and is one of four regions illegally annexed last month by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Authorities in the Kremlin-backed region earlier announced plans to evacuate all Russian-appointed officials and up to 60,000 civilians across the river.

Meanwhile, local leader Volodymyr Saldo described it as an "organized and gradual displacement". Ukrainian officials urged locals to resist relocation attempts, with one local official claiming Moscow wanted to take civilians hostage and use them as human shields.

On Wednesday, Putin signed a decree imposing martial law on Kherson and three other regions in southern and eastern Ukraine, declaring them Russian territories in defiance of international law.

Elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of people in central and western Ukraine woke up on Saturday to power outages and occasional gunfire as Ukrainian air defense tried to shoot down incoming drones and missiles.

Russia has intensified its strikes on power plants, water supply systems, and other critical infrastructure across the country in the latest phase of the nearly eight-month-old war.

In a statement on Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched an "intense missile attack" targeting "critical infrastructure," adding that it shot down 18 of 33 cruise missiles launched from air and sea.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several missiles targeting the capital were shot down on Saturday morning. Similar reports came from governors of six provinces in the west and center as well as the southern Odessa region on the Black Sea.

The presidential office said in its morning statement that five explosive-laden drones were shot down in the Cherkasy region in the mid-southeast of Kyiv.

The western city of Khmelnytskyi, on the Bug River and home to about 275,000 people before the war, was not without power shortly after local media reported several loud explosions.

The city council urged locals to store water in case of shortages as well. Within an hour, the mayor of Lutsk, which has a population of 215,000 in far western Ukraine, made a similar appeal on Saturday. He said power in Lutsk was partially disrupted after Russian missiles hit local power facilities.

Local authorities said the city of Uman in central Ukraine, a major pilgrimage center for Hasidic Jews which had about 100,000 residents before the war, also plunged into darkness after a missile hit a nearby power station. In the capital and four surrounding regions, including Cherkasy.

Power outages took effect Saturday morning in response to reduced power supply.

The state energy company Ukrenergo continued to urge all Ukrainians to conserve energy.

Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged consumers to reduce their energy use between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. daily and avoid using high-energy-consuming devices such as electric heaters.

Over the past two weeks, Moscow has increased its attacks on critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.

Officials said about 40% of the country's power system was severely damaged. Zelensky said earlier in the week that 30% of Ukrainian power plants had been destroyed since October 10.

Editor: Yusra Bamtaraf