(Reuters) – Ukrainian troops were greeted by joyous residents in the centre of Kherson on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its invasion in February.
Russia said it had completed the pullout across the Dnipro River without losing a single soldier, but Ukrainians painted a picture of a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops ditching their uniforms or drowning trying to escape.
KHERSON RETREAT
* Russia’s defence ministry said it had withdrawn more than 30,000 soldiers across the Dnipro River in its retreat.
* “The transfer of Russian troop units to the left bank of the Dnipro river has been completed,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
“Not a single unit of military equipment or weapons have been left on the right (western) bank. All Russian servicemen crossed to the left bank,” it added. Russia, it said, had not suffered any loss of personnel or equipment during the withdrawal.
* Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency confirmed Ukrainian troops had entered Kherson and ordered Russian soldiers still inside the city to surrender.
* Ukrainian forces have liberated 41 settlements as they advance through the south of the country, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said overnight.
* The Kremlin said Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson’s capital would not change the region’s status as annexed by Russia.
ELSEWHERE IN UKRAINE
Six people were killed in a Russian missile attack on an apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early on Friday, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said. Mykolaiv is the closest big Ukrainian-held city to Kherson.
DIPLOMACY
* Talks between a Russian delegation and senior U.N. officials to address Moscow’s grievances about the Black Sea grains export initiative began in Geneva on Friday, a U.N. spokesperson said, just over a week before it expires.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend a gathering of leaders from the Group of 20 (G20) nations in person next week but may join virtually, officials from Russia and the host country Indonesia said.
* U.S. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington was not pressuring Ukraine to engage in diplomacy with Russia over the war.
(Compiled by Peter Graff)
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