Russia to evacuate top security officers and their families from occupied regions in Ukraine: report

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledges indefinite support for Ukraine through 'all seasons'

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to stand by Ukraine in their war against Russia "for as long as it takes," in Wednesday remarks to the  Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium.

Russia is preparing to evacuate senior officers in the Federal Security Service (FSB) and their families from occupied areas of Ukraine, Kyiv on Wednesday claimed. 

According to the National Resistance Center (NRC), which is a civilian resistance office launched by the Ukrainian government following Russia’s invasion, senior Russian officers in the FSB have been "informed about the evacuation routes."

The NRC said officials in all five occupied regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea – have been notified of evacuation plans. 

Employees of the Russian Investigative Committee work at the scene of a damaged part of the Crimean Bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula near Kerch, Crimea, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (Russian Investigative Committee via AP)

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The news comes following a serious blow to Moscow after Kerch Bridge, connecting Crimea to mainland Russia, saw a massive explosion over the weekend that damaged the bridge and forced traffic to temporarily stop.

The bridge, highly prized by Russian President Vladimir Putin, served as a major thoroughfare connecting Crimea to Russia and was vital in supplying Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. 

The NRC said a "large number" of FSB service officers, the successor agency to the infamous KGB, are stationed in Crimea. 

An explosion and a fire were reported in the middle of the Kerch Bridge on Oct. 8, 2022. (Reuters/Nasaybah Hussain)

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But following a series of attacks in Crimea, reports began to surface last month showing that Russians had already begun to flee the peninsula that Russia has occupied since 2014.

In August, an ammunition depot in Crimea went up in flames after it was hit in an apparent missile strike.

The attack came just weeks after at least eight fighter jets were destroyed during the bombardment of Saki airbase, some 140 miles behind the Russian front lines in Crimea.

Rising smoke can be seen from the beach at Saki after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea, on Aug. 9. (UGC via AP/File)

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Western defense officials also said last month that it appeared Moscow had removed its Black Sea fleet from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk in southern Russia due to security concerns. 

Ukraine has urged its underground citizens working to overthrow Russian occupation to "take advantage of the panic" among Russian leadership in occupied areas and report on their movements and activities around military facilities.