President Vladimir Putin's first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, has visited the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea said.
Kiriyenko, a former head of Rosatom, visited the ferry port which is evacuating people from the right back of the Dnipro ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive, said Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
"The work on organising the departure of residents has been completed," Aksyonov said.
Kiriyenko, he said, also visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and spoke to staff at the station.
Kiriyenko is one of the most powerful officials in the Kremlin alongside Putin's chief of staff, Anton Vaino.
(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
