Zelensky declares Russia's withdrawal from Kherson 'the beginning of the end'

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky today called the Russian withdrawal from Kherson 'the beginning of the end of the war' as he met soldiers and locals in the newly liberated city.

A jubilant crowd cheered as an emotional Zelensky, who has remained in Ukraine throughout the war, watched the nation's flag being raised once again in Kherson.

The liberation of the southern city after a grinding offensive that forced Russian forces to flee it is one of Ukraine's biggest successes in the nearly nine-month war.

Zelensky said Ukraine's 'strong army' was persistently reclaiming territories taken by Russia while also acknowledging the difficulties and the heavy human toll. 

The president was greeted to a hero's welcome on his visit today, with people cheering and waving flags as soon as they saw him. 

The leader addressed troops and residents in the city's central square and vowed: 'We are moving forward. We are ready for peace, peace for our country.' 

And he became emotional as he watched the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine being raised once more in Kherson following months of Russian occupation.

Zelensky appeared to be fighting back tears as he sang the national anthem during the ceremony. 

Zelensky becomes emotional as he watches a Ukrainian flag being raised once again in the city of Kherson on Monday

A Ukrainian soldier raises the national flag in the central square of Kherson today

Residents, draped in the Ukrainian flag, cried with happiness as they saw Zelensky during his visit to Kherson today

Local residents waved to the Ukrainian president during his visit to the city 

Volodymyr Zelensky was greeted to a hero's welcome as he visited the newly liberated city of Kherson today, with a jubilant crowd cheering him

Kherson residents flying the flag gather for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's visit

Zelensky said Russian soldiers left behind when their commanders abandoned the city last week are being detained. 

He added, without details, of the 'neutralisation of saboteurs'.

Ukrainian police have called on residents to help identify people who collaborated with Russian forces. 

Zelensky said it was  'impossible to kill Ukraine' and praised Kyiv's forces for pushing back Russian troops from Kherson.

'This is what the Russian Federation did in our country, it showed the whole world that it can kill. But all of us, our armed forces, our National Guard and intelligence (services) have shown that it is impossible to kill Ukraine,' Zelensky said. 

Zelensky thanked Nato and other allies for their support in the war against Russia and said the delivery of high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) from the United States had made a big difference for Kyiv. 

The crowd, including parents with children, clapped and waved as soon as they saw Zelensky enter the city's main square.

Some waved Ukrainian flags and others had it draped over their shoulders. Others were overcome with emotion, with some crying with happiness.  

'I'm really happy, you can tell by the reaction of the people, their reaction is not staged,' Zelensky said in comments witnessed by a Reuters correspondent.

Asked where Ukrainian forces might advance next, he said: 'Not Moscow... We're not interested in the territories of another country.'

Zelensky said that the victories in Ukraine and the recent recapture of Kherson had exacted a high price.

'The price of this war is high. People are injured. A large number of dead. (Russian forces) have left or escaped - we believe that they have escaped because our army has surrounded the enemy and they were in danger,' Zelensky said. 

'There were fierce battles, and the result is - today we are in Kherson region.'

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, flanked by guards, arrives for the flag-raising ceremony in Kherson on Monday 

A woman wipes away tears during Zelenky's visit to Kherson on Monday

Ukrainian soldiers pose for a photo with Zelensky, centre, during his visit on Monday

Surrounded by guards, Volodymyr Zelensky walks in the central square during his visit to Kherson on Monday

Minutes before he arrived, nearby shelling could be heard by people in the centre of Kherson. After Zelensky finished speaking, several more of blasts artillery gunfire echoed over the city.

Ukrainian troops arrived in the city centre on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since Moscow launched its invasion.

Weeping locals sang, danced, hugged, kissed and chanted victory slogans as Kyiv's soldiers arrived to take back the city - with parties going on into the night on Friday.

The end of Russia's eight-month occupation also exposed a humanitarian emergency, with residents living without power and water and short of food and medicines. Russia still controls about 70 per cent of the wider Kherson region. 

Today, Zelensky urged people in the liberated zone to be alert for booby traps, saying: 'Please, do not forget that the situation in the Kherson region is still very dangerous. 

'First of all, there are mines. Unfortunately, one of our sappers was killed, and four others were injured while clearing mines.'

He also promised that essential services will be restored in the city.

'We are doing everything to restore normal technical capabilities for electricity and water supply as soon as possible,' Zelensky said.

'We will bring back transport and post. Let's bring back an ambulance and normal medicine. Of course, the restoration of the work of authorities, the police, and some private companies are already beginning.'

Residents said Russian troops plundered the city, carting away loot as they withdrew last week. They also wrecked key infrastructure before retreating across the wide Dnieper River to its east bank.

One Ukrainian official described the situation as 'a humanitarian catastrophe'.

Zelensky was surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers as he walked through Kherson 

Ukrainians, some draped in their country's flag, smile and cheer in central Kherson on Monday

A soldier takes a selfie with president Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Kherson

Reconnecting the electricity supply is the priority, with gas supplies already assured, Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said. 

Meanwhile, Zelensky said late on Sunday Ukrainian forces who retook Kherson city found evidence of hundreds of new 'war crimes' carried out by Russian occupiers.

In the past two months, Ukraine's military claimed to have retaken dozens of towns and villages north of Kherson.

But NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said today that Ukraine faces difficult months ahead and Russia's military capability should not be underestimated.

Stoltenberg praised the 'incredible courage' of Ukrainian forces following Russia's withdrawal from the strategic southern city of Kherson, and urged continued international support for Kyiv.

'The coming months will be difficult. Putin's aim is to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter,' he told a press conference in The Hague after meeting the Dutch foreign and defence ministers.

We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia,' Stoltenberg said, stressing that Moscow's forces 'retain significant capabilities, as well as a large number of troops'.

'Russia has demonstrated the willingness to bear significant losses,' Stoltenberg added.

Moscow's withdrawal from Kherson 'demonstrates the incredible courage of the Ukraine armed forces but it also showed our continued support for Ukraine', Stoltenberg said.

The recapture of the city by Ukrainian troops is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 hoping to achieve a lightning takeover and topple the government in days.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky awards a Ukrainian serviceman with a military award in Kherson on Monday

Zelensky gives an award to a soldier during a ceremony in Kherson 

But Russian forces failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, and have since been pushed back from large portions of territory in the south and east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the newly liberated city. On Sunday he said evidence had been uncovered of hundreds of new 'war crimes' carried out by the Russian occupiers.

Stoltenberg said Russian forces had 'shown extreme brutality'.

'You have all seen the horrific scenes from the liberated territories and the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure,' Stoltenberg told reporters. It was not clear whether he referred to Kherson specifically.

The city of Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian forces and the only regional capital Moscow's troops gained control over.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday declined to comment on Zelensky's visit to Kherson but insisted, 'This territory is part of the Russian Federation.'

Stoltenberg met Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren to discuss the Netherlands's contribution to NATO and the war in Ukraine.

'We all now see, with the liberation of Kherson, that the Ukrainian strategy is working,' Ollongren said.

'But winter is coming... and we must stay the course.

'If Russia stops fighting tomorrow, there is no more war anymore.

'If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine,' she said.

The liberation of Kherson came some six weeks after Putin annexed the region and three other provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine - in breach of international law - and declared them Russian territory.

Russia claimed it had completed the retreat across the Dnipro River without losing a single soldier. 

Ukrainian troops attend the national flag-raising ceremony in Kherson on Monday

But Ukrainians painted a picture of a chaotic retreat, with soldiers ditching their uniforms or drowning while trying to escape.

Russian forces who retreated across the Dnipro River continued to fire on Ukrainian troops and newly retaken settlements from positions on the opposite bank, Ukraine Armed Forces' southern command said on Monday.

Mr Yanushevych said a curfew would be maintained from 5pm to 8am and people would be banned from leaving or entering the city for a few days for security.

'The enemy mined all critical infrastructure,' he said.

The full recapture opens a gateway for Ukraine to the entire Kherson region, with access to both the Black Sea in the west and the Sea of Azov in the east.

The region was one of four that the Kremlin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia. 

Russia's president Vladimir Putin vowed to use all available means to defend them.

Locals from formerly occupied parts of the Kherson region have described the killings and abductions of civilians in recent days.

Residents said they had tried to minimise contact with Russians and knew of people who were arrested and abused for any discernable Ukrainian patriotism.

A woman hugs a Ukrainian soldier as local residents gather to celebrate the liberation of Kherson on Sunday 

Russian soldiers 'would approach you in the street and ask if you were Ukrainian or Russian. If you said Ukrainian, they would take you away,' Natalia Papernaya, a 43-year-old clothing designer, said on Sunday.

The Russians, she said, had arrested her friend for taking a photo of a neighbour's home to reassure the owners it had survived a nearby shell blast. 

The troops had pulled her friend's hood over her eyes, taped it in place, put her in a cellar for a day and demanded to know for whom she was taking pictures.

'They didn't touch her,' Papernaya said, but the friend heard screams of other detainees and some who were forced to shout out praise for Putin.

'There were many people in there, women and men,' she said.

Yana Shaposhnikova, 36, another clothing designer, said she had buried her yellow and blue Ukrainian flag.

'If you wore anything yellow and blue you could be shot or invited into a cellar where you would be tortured,' she said.

A volunteer she knew who was delivering humanitarian aid to outlying areas had been taken to an underground jail, deprived of sleep and interrogated for three days about whether she was reporting on Russian positions, she said.