Putin declares martial law in annexed areas as Ukraine pushes offensive

Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in the four provinces of Ukraine where Moscow controls territory after Russian officials warned of a Ukrainian assault on the key southern city of Kherson.

The law, published on the Kremlin website, gives far-reaching emergency powers to the Russian-installed heads of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, which Russia recently proclaimed as annexed after sham referendums. Law enforcement agencies have been given three days to submit specific proposals.

Earlier in the day, the head of the occupying administration in Kherson spoke of plans to move up to 60,000 people across the Dnieper River and into Russia as Moscow attempted to cling to the city before a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Residents are under pressure to leave. A number have reported receiving mass text messages warning the city would be shelled and informing them that buses would be leaving from the port from 7am. Workers such as teachers and doctors were also being told to leave.

Russian television footage showed hundreds of people gathered at the port on Wednesday morning waiting to be removed. Russian officials have promised to help them buy property in mainland Russia, suggesting they were not planning for a return of civilians to the city in the foreseeable future.

Russian forces appeared to have resumed aerial attacks on Kyiv on Wednesday, with local people reporting explosions from anti-air defence systems in the skies over the Ukrainian capital.

The warnings are an attempt to avoid a repeat of the situation in Kharkiv province, where the Russian military was criticised for its chaotic retreat, in many cases leaving behind local Ukrainians who had collaborated with the occupation governments.

Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, rushed to Washington at short notice on Tuesday for urgent consultations, prompting conjecture he was having discussions about nuclear threats made by Russia. The UK government previously said it had seen no suspicious activity that might be a precursor to the deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon.

Wallace is thought to be discussing how to prevent Iranian missiles and drones reaching Russia with new air defence systems, as well as the likely location from which they are being dispatched.

Additional reporting by Patrick Wintour