Russian forces have completed their withdrawal from Ukraine’s Kherson region west of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
It comes after Moscow ordered a partial withdrawal from the region on Wednesday, marking one of the biggest military setbacks for the Kremlin since the start of the war.
“In the direction of Kherson, the movement of Russian military units to the left bank of the Dnieper River was completed at 05:00 [Moscow time] this morning,” the ministry said on its official Telegram channel.
“Not a single piece of military equipment or weapons was left on the right bank,” the statement said, referring to the western side of the river. “All Russian soldiers have moved to the left bank of the Dnieper” – the Russian spelling for the river.
A local Ukrainian official in the region told CNN on Friday that he could “neither confirm nor deny” whether Russian forces have withdrawn from the city of Kherson.
“We maintain the mode of ‘information silence,'” said Yuriy Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson regional council of Ukraine. “We do not comment on Ukrainian military movement or enemy military movement.”
Images and videos on social media on Friday also showed that the Antonivskyi Bridge, the main pipeline over the Dnipro in the Kherson region, had been destroyed.
Alexander Koch, a reporter for the Russian pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda embedded with Russian forces, posted a video on his Telegram channel of himself standing on the crossing, showing the entire central section of the bridge destroyed.
“Behind me are the two demolished (bridge) spans,” Kotch said. “They were probably detonated during the withdrawal of the Russian group of forces from the right bank to the left,” or from the west bank to the east bank.
An image circulating on social media on Friday shows a Ukrainian flag in the center of Kherson, although there is no indication that the Ukrainian army is still in that city.
Sobolevskyi, the Ukrainian official, also refused to confirm the veracity of social media images of the Ukrainian flag in the center of the city of Kherson.
“I cannot confirm that this is a real photo,” he said. “But I can say that it is Svobody Square, where all the anti-occupation rallies took place. The Resistance movement has been there in Kherson the whole time, since the occupation began. People have shown their patriotic attitude with patriotic graffiti, ribbons, flags, etc.”
Ukrainian residents of a town on the western outskirts of the city of Kherson raised a Ukrainian flag and tore down Russian propaganda billboards, according to social media videos seen by CNN.
The videos are from the town of Bilozerka, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of the city of Kherson.
A video shows a Ukrainian flag flying over a World War II memorial. Another shows residents tearing down propaganda billboards with a young woman holding a Russian flag, which read: “Russia is here forever.”
Officials in Kiev have warned that retreating Russian troops could turn the regional capital Kherson into a “city of death” when they leave.
An official in southern Ukraine warned residents on Friday to be wary of quickly returning to newly liberated territory because of the threat of landmines.
“There are many mines in the liberated territories and settlements,” Vitaliy Kim, head of the Mykolaiv district military administration, told Telegram. “Don’t go there for no reason. There are victims.”
Kherson was one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia in September.
The Kremlin’s top spokesman on Friday insisted the region remains part of Russia, despite a stated intention to partially withdraw.
“This is a matter for the Russian Federation,” Dmitry Peskov said during a regular briefing with reporters. “It is defined and legally defined. There can be no changes here.”
Russia still controls a large part of the Kherson region – the area east of the Dnipro River.
When asked directly if Russia’s retreat was “humiliating” to President Vladimir Putin, Peskov replied: “No.”
