Russia widens evacuation of occupied Ukrainian territory as UN looks into 'dirty bomb' claims

Russia ordered civilians to leave a swath of Ukraine along the eastern bank of a major river, a significant extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.

Russia had previously ordered civilians out of a pocket it controls on the west bank of the the Dnipro River, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing to capture the city of Kherson.

Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday they were now extending that order to a 15-kilometre buffer zone along the east bank as well.

Ukraine says the evacuations include forced deportations from occupied territory, a war crime. Russia, which claims to have annexed the area, says it is taking civilians to safety because of a threat Ukraine might use unconventional weapons.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of planning to use a so-called "dirty bomb" to spread radiation, or to blow up a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. Kyiv says accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine. The mouth of the wide Dnipro River has become one of the most consequential front lines in the war in recent weeks, with Ukrainian forces advancing to expel Russian troops from their only pocket on the west bank. Russia has thousands of troops there and has been trying to reinforce the area. Ukraine's advance has slowed in recent days, with commanders citing weather and tougher terrain.

In the city of Kherson on Tuesday, streets were virtually empty, with most shops and businesses shuttered. A handful of  people at a jetty boarded a ferry to cross to the east bank of the Dnipro, though a few men were still fishing peacefully amid the distant rumble of artillery fire.

Some residents remained defiant, despite the order to leave.

"Why should I leave?... What for? I will stay here to the very end," said Ekaterina, a shopkeeper, referring to the house she said her ancestors had built "with their own hands."

Meanwhile, experts from the United Nations' nuclear power agency inspected two sites in Ukraine on Tuesday that Russia identified in unfounded claims that Ukrainian authorities planned to set off radioactive "dirty bombs" in their own invaded country.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said the inspections for evidence of a so-called dirty bomb, requested by Kyiv in the wake of the unsubstantiated Russian allegations, would be completed soon. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the investigated sites "are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors," whose mission is detecting undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of dirty bombs. 

"The IAEA inspected one of the two locations a month ago and no undeclared nuclear activities or materials were found there," the agency said in a statement Monday. 

The UN's atomic energy watchdog also has had on-site monitors at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Fighting near Europe's largest nuclear power station has created worries of a possibly catastrophic leak there. 

The Ukrainian president's office said Tuesday that cities and towns around the plant experienced more heavy shelling between Monday and Tuesday. In Nikopol, a city which faces the plant from across the wide Dnieper River, over a dozen apartment buildings, a kindergarten, and various private businesses were damaged, the office said.