The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russian forces have neutralized approximately 500 Ukrainian nationalists in the Kherson region by strikes and artillery fire.

"Near the village of Bilohirka in the Kherson region, the air strikes and artillery fire of the Russian air force hit a temporary deployment point of the 46th airmobile brigade of the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine]. Over 400 nationalists were destroyed," as per the ministry.

Furthermore, the ministry stated that 70 other Ukrainian nationalists were killed and 150 were injured as a result of high-precision strikes by the Russian air force against the 105th battalion of the 63rd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Kherson region's settlements of Andriivka, Lozove, and Dovhove.

Earlier today, Deputy Head of the regional military-civil administration, Kirill Stremousov, told Sputnik that the Kherson Region stopped being under Ukraine's jurisdiction, adding that Kiev’s administrative decisions do not affect it any longer.

After the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics demanded help from Russia amid intensive offensives by Ukrainian troops, the Kherson Region and most of Zaporozhye region of Ukraine became controlled by Russia's military.

The head of the administration of the Zaporozhye Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, signed a decree in July, announcing the start of preparations for a referendum on joining Russia and the creation of an election commission to conduct elections.

A referendum was also declared by the Kherson Region government. The seven members of the body will each serve a three-year term.