“Four people were killed,” pro-Moscow official Kirill Stremousov said on Telegram.

“The city of Kherson, like a fortress, is preparing for its defence.”

Pro-Russia forces have urged civilians to cross to the left bank of the Dnipro River in the face of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in what Kyiv has branded as “deportations” of Ukrainian citizens.

The Russian-backed administration of Kherson overnight said Kyiv fired “12 Himars rockets at a civilian crossing near the Antonivsky bridge.”

Russian state television aired footage of a damaged car and traffic waiting to cross the river.

Yesterday, Stremousov said 15,000 people had crossed the river in evacuations organised by the Moscow-backed forces.

He insisted that Russia will not give up Kherson – the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces early in their offensive in March.

“Kherson will hold on until the last (man), believe me nobody is intending to give up the city.”