Ukraine is carrying out “stabilization measures” near the city of Kherson after it was re-taken by Ukrainian forces, as people across the country on Saturday awoke from a night of jubilant celebrating following what has been described as a “historic day” for Kyiv and perhaps the most important strategic breakthrough since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
After an eight-month occupation, hundreds of citizens flooded the city streets this morning, reaching out to greet and embrace Ukrainian soldiers and the first foreign journalists on the scene. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cautioned that while special military units had reached Kherson city, a full deployment to reinforce the advance troops was still underway – a reminder that about 70% of the Kherson region remains under Russian control.
Zelenskiy declared the city to be “ours” and that it was a “historic” day for the country, after Russia announced the completion of its withdrawal from the regional capital. In a statement on his Telegram page, he said that people in Kherson never gave up hope on Ukraine, adding: “Hope for Ukraine is always justified – and Ukraine always returns its own.”
A Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson has told the BBC that Ukraine’s forces are almost in full control of Kherson.
Russia said more than 30,000 service personnel have been withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. The defence ministry said that its evacuation had been completed by 5am Moscow time on Friday. The ministry said there was no military hardware or soldiers left on the western side of the river.
However, reports have emerged of some Russian troops being left behind in Ukraine and changing into civilian clothes, or drowning trying to escape. The ministry of defence’s intelligence unit has urged Russian soldiers to surrender.
The Antonivskiy Bridge, the only nearby road crossing from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the Dnieper River, has been blown up. There was significant new damage to the nearby major Nova Kakhovka dam after the withdrawal, US satellite imagery company Maxar said.
