AMN / WEB DESK
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky declared Kherson “ours” after Russia withdrew troops from the city. The US hailed it as an “extraordinary victory”.
Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall after president Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine.
“As of now, our defenders are on the outskirts of the city. But special units are already in the city,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“We see children running to meet us and greeting us,” Andriy Zholob, commander of a medical unit said. “We see attractive, smiling faces, flowers, embroidered towels which we display on our vehicles,” he told AFP.
Kyiv’s defence ministry had said earlier Friday that Kherson “is returning to Ukrainian control and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are entering the city.” Ukrainian artillery teams had clear views over Russia’s routes of retreat and warned, “Any attempts to oppose the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be stopped.”
Russia’s defence ministry said “more than 30,000 Russian servicemen, about 5,000 pieces of hardware and military equipment and materiel have been withdrawn”.
Kherson was the only regional capital taken by Russia after February’s invasion. The retreat has been seen as one of its biggest setbacks of the war.
Moscow said 30,000 personnel had been taken out of the area – as well as around 5,000 pieces of military hardware, weaponry and other assets.
The White House hailed what it called an “extraordinary victory”, while Ukrainian President Zelensky called it an “historic day”.
But Ukraine’s foreign minister said the “war goes on”. Speaking in Cambodia on the sidelines of a summit of Asian countries, Dmytro Kuleba said: “We are winning battles on the ground. But the war continues.”
An evening update on Friday from the Ukrainian side said troops had pushed as far forwards as the western bank of the Dnipro river.