Kyiv celebrates regaining Kherson

• Russia declared, it withdrew Kherson.
• Residents congratulated Ukrainian soldiers.
• Civilians raised Ukraine’s flag and chanted.

After Russia declared it had withdrawn from Kherson, joyful residents greeted Ukrainian soldiers.

Video showed civilians raising Ukraine’s flag and chanting as Kyiv’s troops arrived.

Some sung patriotic songs all night around a campfire.

Russia’s February assault took just Kherson. The retreat is one of its largest warsetbacks.

Moscow said 30,000 people and 5,000 pieces of military equipment were removed.

White House dubbed it a “amazing win,” while Zelensky called it “historic.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister warned “conflict continues.” “We’re winning fights on the ground, but the war continues,” Dmytro Kuleba stated in Cambodia.

Friday evening, Ukrainian troops advanced to the western bank of the Dnipro.

Images showed the Antonivsky Bridge partially fallen. Unknown harm inflicted.

Russian troops who took Kherson are reportedly moving east.

A Kherson resident recalled his “overwhelming” emotions as people sang and danced.

Alexei Sandakov told the BBC his full name after calling himself “Jimmy.” Kherson is “free now. It’s different. Everyone’s crying since this morning.”

“Everyone wanted to embrace” the Ukrainian troops, he said.

The city changed hands after a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive in which 41 localities near Kherson were regained.

President Zelensky claimed Kherson residents “were waiting” and “never gave up on Ukraine”

Residents are removing “all signs of the occupiers’ stay,” including Russian emblems, he said.

Putin’s spokesman denied the measure was embarrassing.

Since holding so-called “referendums” in four seized east and south Ukrainian provinces, the Kremlin has considered Kherson its own region.

Internationally, these elections were discredited, and Ukraine continued to reclaim the land.

Russia’s commander in Ukraine declared Wednesday that the city couldn’t be supplied.

Despite little sign of a Russian retreat on Thursday, Ukraine reported 7km of gains on two axes.

Friday was busy. Locals first reported Russians abandoning Kherson.

Later, flag-waving people were recorded greeting Kyiv’s forces and screaming “Glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces!”

Alexei Sandakov said Friday afternoon, “No one will sleep tonight”

Kherson’s TV station was restored to Ukrainian transmissions.

A Ukrainian official declared his troops “nearly entirely control” Kherson and the territory west of the Dnipro river just after 16:00 local time (1400 GMT).

Defense minister adviser Yuriy Sak claimed troops feared Russian traps.

Mr. Sak told the BBC that hostile soldiers were remaining in the city, disguising themselves as locals. He encouraged capitulation.

He lauded Kherson’s recapture as a huge achievement equal to earlier efforts to expel Russian troops from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv.

He remained “conservative,” stressing the risk of Russian reprisal and a missile attack in Mykolaiv that purportedly killed seven people.

Mr. Sak promised to recover more Russian territory, including land captured since 2014.

In Russia, officials have called the withdrawal from Kherson a “redeployment,” despite social media criticism from pro-war commenters.

Putin was absent from Wednesday’s military statement that Russian forces were leaving the city they seized early in the fight.

Also Read

Vladimir Putin wants Kherson, Russia’s retreat is a blow

Russia has finished its withdrawal from Kherson and the surrounding environs. The...