Closing summary
It’s approaching 9pm in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and here’s a summary of today’s developments as Ukrainians in Kherson city are celebrating after the arrival of Ukrainian soldiers to recapture the city.
Jubilant crowds have been seen welcoming soldiers in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, after progress made by the armed forces in recent days continued. Ukrainian forces have liberated 41 settlements as they advanced through the south, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in his Thursday evening address.
A Ukrainian flag has been raised in Svobody Square, near the headquarters for the regional administration for the first time since the city fell to Russia on 2 March. Another is being flown outside the city’s national police headquarters.
A Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson has told the BBC that Ukraine’s forces are almost in full control of Kherson.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that it was a “historic” day for the country. 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.”
More than 30,000 Russian service personnel have been withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.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.
Vladimir Putin’s press spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied the Russian withdrawal from Kherson was humiliating for the Kremlin, when he spoke to reporters on Friday morning. Peskov said there were no regrets about the city in southern Ukraine being annexed by Russia at a lavish ceremony in late September.
However, reports have emerged of some Russian troops being left behind in Ukraine and changing into civilian clothes. 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 Dnipro River, has been blown up.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general is investigating three bodies that were found in Kherson region, who it’s suspected were victims of war crimes.
Seven people were killed in a Russian missile attack on a five-storey block of flats in Mykolaiv that took place early on Friday morning. Emergency service crews have been working to try to find any survivors.
Russian attacks on electricity facilities are having a disproportionate effect on civilians in Ukraine, having an indiscriminate impact on critical functions such as healthcare and heating, according to the latest evaluation by the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine is building a wall at its northern border with neighbour Belarus, a key ally of Putin. The concrete wall is already 3km long.
Forty-five Ukrainian soldiers have been freed in a prisoner exchange with Russia and the bodies of two killed Ukrainian soldiers have also been repatriated, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office has said.
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that his organisation had started training civilians in Russian regions bordering Ukraine to form a militia and build fortifications.
The United Nations has been holding talks with Russian officials about the agreement to export grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along. We will be back tomorrow.
There is significant new damage caused to the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, after Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, according to aerial images.
In a statement reported by Reuters, satellite imagery company Maxar said: “Satellite images this morning … reveal significant new damage to several bridges and the Nova Kakhovka dam in the aftermath of the Russian retreat from Kherson across the Dnipro River.”
It follows news earlier on Friday that the Antonivskiy Bridge had been blown up, cutting a link between the two sides of the river. The Russian forces have fled to the west side, allowing Ukrainian forces to retake Kherson city.
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