Video of terrifying rocket barrage fired at dug-in Russians released by Ukrainians

Dramatic footage has emerged showing Ukrainian armed forces firing a bombardment of surface-to-surface missiles towards Russian military dug-in positions.

The official Twitter page of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence posted the video with the caption: "HG Wells might call this phenomenon 'fireballs'. We simply call it payback time."

While the location is not clear, the bombardment comes as Ukrainian authorities started evacuating civilians from the recently-liberated areas of the Kherson region and the neighbouring Mykolaiv province, fearing that damage to infrastructure is too severe for people to endure in the coming winter.

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Residents of the two southern regions, which have been regularly shelled in the past months by Russian forces, have been advised to move to safer areas in the central and and western parts of the country, Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

The Ukrainian government will provide transportation, accommodation and medical care, she added.

The evacuations come just over a week after Ukraine retook the city of Kherson and areas around it. While the liberation of the area marked a major battlefield gain, the evacuations highlight the difficulties Ukraine is facing following heavy Russian shelling of its power infrastructure as winter weather sets in.