Ukrainian forces enter Kherson after Russian retreat

Ukrainian soldiers swept into the southern city of Kherson on Friday, seizing a major symbolic and strategic prize from the retreating Russian army and dealing a bitter blow to President Vladimir Putin.

Just weeks after Putin declared the Kherson region a part of Russia forever, his troops were forced to abandon its capital city, their third major retreat in the war. The setback further dented the once-formidable reputation of an army that has mismanaged logistics and sent unprepared and unmotivated soldiers into battle.

Wary of mines and navigating around blown-up bridges, Ukrainian soldiers at first filtered secretly into the city and nearby villages, after Russian forces had withdrawn hours earlier across the Dnieper River. But by Friday afternoon soldiers were appearing openly on a central square, greeted as liberators by jubilant residents.

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Videos shared on social media by Ukrainian government officials showed scenes of civilians who had endured more than eight months of occupation cheering the arrival of Ukrainian troops.

“Today is a historic day,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a message posted on the Telegram messaging app. “We are returning to Kherson.”

Hours earlier, the Kremlin had issued a statement saying that the withdrawal of its forces across the Dnieper River was complete.

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Russian soldiers who remained in the city after the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, announced a pullback on Wednesday withdrew by ferries across the Dnieper and over the Antonivsky Bridge, the major river crossing, overnight Thursday into Friday. They then apparently blew up the bridge to cover their retreat, according to residents and satellite images.

Although the arrival of Ukrainian troops portended relief for the beleaguered civilians who had remained, officials cautioned that the city was not out of danger. After previous setbacks, Russia has launched bombardments of cruise missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities.

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Kherson is the only provincial capital Russia had captured, and it is a major link in Russia’s effort to control the southern coastline along the Black Sea.

Even as its soldiers fled, the Kremlin said that it still considered Kherson to be a part of Russia. “This is a Russian region,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, told reporters Friday. “It has been legally fixed and defined. There can be no changes here.”