KHERSON
\nJubilant residents have welcomed Ukrainian troops arriving in the centre of Kherson after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its offensive in February.
\nVideo footage verified by the Reuters news agency on Friday showed dozens of people cheering and chanting victory slogans in Kherson city\u2019s central square, where the apparent first Ukrainian troops to arrive snapped selfies in the throng.
\nTwo men hoisted a female soldier on their shoulders and tossed her into the air. Some residents wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags. One man was weeping with joy.
\nLocals had placed Ukrainian flags in the square as news of the end of more than eight months of occupation filtered out.
\n\u201cGlory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! Glory to the Nation!\u201d one man shouted in another video verified by Reuters.
\n\u201cToday is a historic day. We are getting the south of the country back, we are getting Kherson back,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening video address.
\n\u201cAs of now, our defenders are on the outskirts of the city, and we are very close to entering. But special units are already in the city,\u201d he said.
\nRussia said it had withdrawn 30,000 troops across the Dnipro River without losing a single soldier. But Ukrainians painted a picture of a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops ditching their uniforms, dropping weapons and drowning while trying to flee.
\nThe withdrawal marked the third major Russian retreat of the war and the first to involve yielding such a large occupied city in the face of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive that has retaken parts of the east and south.
\nUkraine\u2019s defence intelligence agency said Kherson was being restored to Ukrainian control and ordered any remaining Russian troops to surrender to Kyiv\u2019s forces entering the city.
\nSerhiy Khlan, a member of Ukraine\u2019s regional council for Kherson, said the regional capital was now almost fully under the control of Ukrainian forces.
\nA large number of Russian soldiers had drowned in the river trying to escape and others had changed into civilian clothing, he said, advising residents not to leave their homes while searches for remaining Russian troops took place.
\nNatalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military\u2019s southern command, said \u201csaboteur operations cannot be ruled out\u201d by Russian troops in civilian clothes.
\nEarlier, the Russian Defence Ministry said it had finished its withdrawal from the western bank of the Dnipro river, where Kherson city lies, two days after Moscow announced the retreat.
\n\u201cNot a single unit of military equipment or weapons have been left on the right (western) bank. All Russian servicemen crossed to the left bank,\u201d it added, saying that Russia had not suffered any loss of personnel or equipment. Pro-Russian war bloggers had reported late on Thursday that Russian forces crossing the river were coming under heavy fire from Ukrainian forces. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KHERSON Jubilant residents have welcomed Ukrainian troops arriving in the centre of Kherson after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its offensive in February. Video footage verified by the Reuters news agency on Friday showed dozens of people cheering and chanting victory slogans in Kherson city\u2019s central square, where the apparent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n