Kherson: Russian troops are leaving the area west of the Dnieper, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense


Kyiv, Ukraine
CNN

Russian forces have completed the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine’s Kherson region west of the Dnieper River, including the city of Kherson, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

This is after Moscow ordered a partial retreat from the region on Wednesday, in one of the Kremlin’s biggest military defeats since the start of the war.

“In the Kherson direction, the advance of Russian military units to the left bank of the Dnieper 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,” reads a statement referring to the western bank of the river. “All Russian servicemen crossed to the left bank of the Dnieper” is the Russian spelling of the river’s name.

Images and videos on social media on Friday showed that the Antonovsky Bridge, the main water conduit across the Dnieper in the Kherson region, had been destroyed.

An image circulated Friday on social media shows a Ukrainian flag in the center of Kherson, although there is no suggestion that the Ukrainian military is still in the city.