Celebrations in Kherson as Russian army retreats

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.

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 under way.

“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 the anticipation of Kyiv’s forces arriving.

“Your command left you to the mercy of fate... Your commanders

‘Your commanders urge you to change into civilian clothes and try to escape on your own’ UKRAINIAN INTELLIGENCE

urge you to change into civilian clothes and try to escape from Kherson on your own. Obviously. you won’t be able to,” the intelligence statement read.

The final Russian withdrawal came six weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed the Kherson region and three other Ukrainian provinces, vowing they would remain Russian forever.

Moscow’s forces still control about 70% of the Kherson region following the pullback ordered amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The Kremlin remained defiant on Friday, insisting the withdrawal in no way represented an embarrassment for Mr Putin. Moscow continues to view the entire Kherson region as part of Russia, Kremlin spokesman

Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He added that the Kremlin does not regret holding festivities just over a month ago to celebrate the annexation of occupied or partially occupied regions of Ukraine.

Shortly before the Russian announcement, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the province as “difficult”. It reported Russian shelling of some of the villages and towns Ukrainian forces reclaimed in recent weeks during their counteroffensive in the Kherson region.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered a troop withdrawal from Kherson and nearby areas on Wednesday, after his top general in Ukraine reported that a loss of supply routes during Ukraine’s southern counter-offensive made a defence ‘futile’