IN THE WORLD TODAY

Liberation of Kherson near after retreat

RUSSIA has relinquished its final foothold in a major city in southern Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian forces to move cautiously towards reclaiming the country’s only Russian- occupied provincial capital.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its troops finished withdrawing from the western bank of the river that divides Ukraine’s Kherson region at 5am local time yesterday.

The area they left included the city of Kherson, the only provincial capital Russia had captured during its nearly nine- month invasion of Ukraine.

Videos and photos circulating on social media showed local residents cheerfully taking to the streets and a Ukrainian flag flying over a monument in a central Kherson square for the first time since early March when the city was seized by the Russians.

Some footage showed crowds cheering on men in military uniform.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the city was back in Ukrainian hands. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said “an operation to liberate Kherson” and the surrounding region of the same name was underway.

“But it will be possible to talk about establishing Ukrainian control over the city only after an official report by the General Staff” of the Ukrainian army, Andriy Yusov told the Associated Press.

Ukrainian intelligence urged Russian soldiers who might still be in the city to surrender in anticipation of Kyiv’s military forces arriving.

The final Russian withdrawal came six weeks after Russian president Vladimir Putin illegally annexed the Kherson region and three other Ukrainian provinces.