KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces attacked Russia’s hold on the southern city of Kherson on Thursday while fighting also intensified in the country’s east. The battles came amid reports that Moscow-appointed authorities in Kherson have abandoned the city, joining tens of thousands of residents who fled to other Russia-held areas.

Ukrainian forces were surrounding Kherson from the west and attacking Russia’s foothold on the west bank of the Dnieper River, which divides the region and the country.

As the battles unfolded, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to cast the conflict in Ukraine as part of efforts by the West to secure global domination.

Speaking at a conference of international policy experts, Putin accused the US and its allies of trying to dictate their terms to other nations in a “dangerous and bloody” domination game.

Putin, who sent his troops into Ukraine on February 24, has cast Western support for Ukraine as part of broad efforts by Washington and its allies to enforce what they call a rules-based world order that only foments chaos.

Meanwhile, Russia warned that Moscow could target Western commercial satellites used for military purposes in support of Ukraine, and a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman accused the United States of pursuing “thoughtless and mad” escalation.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued that Washington should take an approach more like it did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Cold War superpowers stepped back from the brink of nuclear confrontation.

“The more the US is drawn into supporting the Kyiv regime on the battlefield, the more they risk provoking a direct military confrontation between the biggest nuclear powers fraught with catastrophic consequences,” Zakharova said.

Ukraine has pushed ahead with an offensive to reclaim the Kherson region and its capital of the same name, which Russian forces captured during the first days of a war now in its ninth month.

More than 70,000 residents from the Kherson city area have evacuated in recent days, the region’s Kremlin-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said Thursday.

Members of the Russia-backed regional administration also fled, the deputy governor, Kirill Stremousov said. Monuments to Russian heroes were moved, along with the remains of Grigory Potemkin, the Russian general who founded Kherson in the 18th century. His remains were kept at the city’s St Catherine’s Church.

In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continued to bombard the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, making slow gains toward the center.

The deputy head of Russia’s delegation at a UN arms control panel, Konstantin Vorontsov, described the use of US and other Western commercial satellites for military purposes during the fighting as “extremely dangerous.”

“The quasi-civilian infrastructure could be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” Vorontsov warned.

As they have all month, Russian forces carried out attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which have caused increasing worry ahead of winter.