The governor of Ukraine on Saturday pledged to close off the entire city under the pretext of "flush[ing] out" what he described as "saboteurs" and "Russian spies" in the frontier city.

Governor Vitaliy Kim told The Telegraph that he was going to close off the city for several days for an investigation into people he accuses of working with Russia, meaning he will be restricting the freedom of the city's residents under false pretexts as the southern city undergoes fierce battles.

"We have a secret plan," he said. "We will train our military forces and police to search for saboteurs."

The head of the Nikolaev regional military administration, when asked about how many "saboteurs" he was after, said he suspected "everybody. But we have only a few of them in our city. Even one of them can give many points to the Russians, so we are searching for the bad ones."

He also confirmed reports about a mass arrest campaign that saw a dozen people the local authorities accused of "collaborating with Russia."

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had arrested its former chief of Crimean affairs on suspicion of treason, which was accompanied by a presidential decision to dismiss the country's spy chief, Ivan Bakanov, and prosecutor general Irina Venediktova as paranoia mounts in Kiev.

The sackings not only reflect the rampant paranoia in Ukraine but also Kiev's growing frustration with its own 30,000 agent-strong security service.

The Ukrainian military and the mercenaries affiliated with the Kiev authorities suffering major defeats at the hands of the Russian soldiers on the southern front is what raised concerns about agents and citizens "collaborating" with Moscow despite the latter's military superiority.

Kim has made various controversial statements that reflected the criminality of his decisions, previously pledging to "hunt down and execute" everyone found to be in support of Russia, calling them "traitors".

He admitted that the authorities would use illegal means to find these so-called "traitors", such as hacking them and obtaining whatever data deemed valuable.

"You need to understand that we are far ahead in terms of information technology, hacking; we have very good specialists, and there are large databases. Everyone can be tracked. No one can escape justice," he told Ukraine 24 in late April, declaring that he was "not afraid of his word."

Vitaly Kim, governor of Nikolaev Oblast: citizens cooperating with Russia will face extrajudicial execution, adding that he is “not afraid of this word.” pic.twitter.com/RmyvA23a5b

— Chebureki Vibes (@PelmeniPusha) April 25, 2022

In March, Nikolaev Mayor Aleksander Senkevich declared his stance on the issue of the authorities deploying artillery weapons among residential buildings, which jeopardizes civilian lives, mocking those calling for their removal.

"I love when some of these girls write 'remove the artillery from the city'. Maybe we should remove the soldiers, too. Then? And hello, Russians, come on in," Senkevich said.

Mayor of Nikolayev Aleksandr Senkevich: "I love when some of these girls write, 'remove the artillery from the city'... maybe we should remove the soldiers, too, then? And hello, Russians, come on in..." pic.twitter.com/domhTMfRiU

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) March 28, 2022

A senior Russian defense official in late May accused Ukrainian troops who were in control of parts of eastern Donetsk at the time of pulling heavy artillery and military hardware to schools and nurseries.

"Ukrainian armed forces have holed up in Bakhmut’s School No 2, Chasiv Yar’s Vocational School No 22, and in Novoekonomichne’s Solnyshko kindergarten and School No 1. They are storing military equipment and rocket launchers on the grounds," Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said.

The Ukrainian forces are known to commit such violations throughout the war, putting civilian lives at risk, then blaming Russia for any losses that result from the neutralization of artillery systems.