Ukrainian soldiers have been welcomed into Kherson by jubilant residents, after Russia said it had fully withdrawn from the key southern city.

Video showed locals on the streets, flying Ukraine’s national flag and chanting as Kyiv’s troops arrived.

Some sang patriotic songs around a large camp fire well into the night.

Kherson was the only regional capital taken by Russia after February’s invasion. The retreat has been seen as one of its biggest setbacks of the war.

Moscow said 30,000 personnel had been taken out of the area – as well as around 5,000 pieces of military hardware, weaponry and other assets.

The White House hailed what it called an « extraordinary victory », while Ukrainian President Zelensky called it an « historic day ».

But Ukraine’s foreign minister said the « war goes on ». Speaking in Cambodia on the sidelines of a summit of Asian countries, Dmytro Kuleba said: « We are winning battles on the ground. But the war continues. »

An evening update on Friday from the Ukrainian side said troops had pushed as far forwards as the western bank of the Dnipro river.

Images also emerged showing that the main river crossing – the Antonivsky Bridge – had partially collapsed. It remains unclear how the damage was caused.

The Russian troops who occupied Kherson are thought to be taking up new positions on the eastern side of the river.

A Kherson resident described his « overwhelming » emotions as people emerged singing and dancing onto the streets.

Alexei Sandakov revealed his full name to the BBC, having previously referred to himself only as « Jimmy ». He said Kherson was « free now. It’s different. Everyone is crying since this morning ».

He added that « everybody wanted to embrace » the arriving Ukrainian soldiers.

The city’s change of control followed a rapid Ukrainian counter-offensive in recent months, in which Kyiv said it had recaptured 41 settlements near Kherson.

In his evening address, President Zelensky said the people of Kherson « were waiting » and « never gave up on Ukraine ».

He added that residents had been working to remove « any traces of the occupiers’ stay » from the streets, including Russian symbols.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the move represented a humiliating defeat.

For weeks, the Kremlin has regarded Kherson and its locality as its own territory, after running so-called « referendums » in four occupied provinces of east and south Ukraine.

These votes were widely discredited by the international community, and Ukraine kept up its efforts to take back the affected land.

Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson was announced on Wednesday by the country’s commander in Ukraine, who said it was no longer possible to supply the city.

Although there was little evidence of any Russian retreat on Thursday, Ukraine claimed advances of up to 7km on two axes as its troops pushed forwards.

Events continued to move quickly on Friday. Initial reports that the Russians had abandoned Kherson came from locals.

Crowds of flag-waving civilians were later filmed in Freedom Square, greeting Kyiv’s soldiers and chanting: « Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine! »

On Friday afternoon, Alexei Sandakov appeared to be still adapting to the new situation on the ground, commenting: « No-one is going to sleep tonight. »

The local television service in Kherson was also reconnected to Ukrainian broadcasts.

Shortly after 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT), a Ukrainian official said his troops were « almost fully in control » of Kherson, as well as the wider tranche of land to the west of the Dnipro river.

Troops were treading carefully amid fears of Russian traps, said Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the defence minister.

Mr Sak told the BBC that some enemy soldiers were believed to be lingering in the city, had cast off their uniforms and were trying to disguise themselves as civilians. He urged them to surrender.

He hailed Kherson’s recapture as a major win comparable to his side’s successful efforts earlier in the war to drive Russian troops away from other urban centres – namely Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv.

But he said he remained « cautious », citing the possibility of Russian retaliations, and referring to a missile attack in Mykolaiv earlier in the day, which allegedly killed at least seven people.

Mr Sak vowed to retake further territory from Russia, including land that has been occupied by the neighbouring country since 2014.

In Russia, the exit from Kherson has been played down by officials and styled as a « redeployment » – despite criticism from pro-war commentators on social media.

Mr Putin was notably absent from Wednesday’s announcement by the military that Russian forces were leaving the city they had snatched, virtually unopposed, in the early stages of the war.

World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Ukraine. Celebrations as Kyiv takes back key city Kherson est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

A second attempt to evacuate civilians from the besieged southern city of Mariupol has failed – with both sides once again blaming each other for breaking the ceasefire. The Red Cross said the two sides had not agreed on the details of how the evacuation would take place.

In Irpin near Kyiv a mother and two children died as mortar fire hit an evacuation route from the town, which has been under heavy bombardment. Civilians have been fleeing across a destroyed bridge that was blown up by Ukrainian forces to prevent a Russian advance on Kyiv.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin told France’s Emmanuel Macron that Russia would achieve its aims through « negotiation or war », according to a French readout of their nearly-two-hour call. Earlier on Sunday he told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan much the same thing.

More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine in just 10 days, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). The majority – nearly a million – have gone to Poland.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russian forces are preparing to bombard the southern port city of Odesa.

About 3,500 people were reportedly detained at anti-war demonstrations in Russia today – more than 10,000 people have been detained since the war began.

At least 364 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, the United Nations Human Rights office said – adding that the real figures were likely to be « considerably higher ».

Irpin evacuation: Family killed as they fled

We have more information about the three civilians known to have been killed while trying to flee Irpin, a town just outside Kyiv.

A highly distressing image taken by a photographer for the New York Times show three members of a family of four – a mother and two children – lying dead on the pavement, while Ukrainian soldiers try to save the life of the wounded father.

We’re not publishing the picture here due to its extremely graphic nature.

The children were a teenaged son and a daughter who appeared to be about eight years old, the newspaper reports.

The family had run from the fighting carrying a suitcase and a few backpacks and had brought their small dog with them.

They were hit by a mortar attack.

Russian forces have been firing mortar shells at an already-collapsed bridge being used by evacuating civilians, including children.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting the evacuation routes from Irpin, after a railway track was hit and damaged on Saturday.

As well as Irpin, the small towns of Hostomel and Bucha to the north-west of Kyiv have seen heavy fighting in recent days.

 World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Mariupol evacuation halted as civilians killed near Kyiv est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Reports of armoured columns heading for Kyiv as Russia’s invasion continues.

This lady is currently in Kyiv, Ukraine. She has been making videos since yesterday and says the city gets attacked constantly and this might be her last video.. We’re living in a nightmare. https://t.co/5mlRDEOKpa

— ipek (@ipeciliously) February 25, 2022

« At today’s meeting, the Uefa Executive Committee also decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in Uefa competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice. »

The 2021/22 UEFA Men’s Champions League final will move from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.

Full statement: ⬇️

— UEFA (@UEFA) February 25, 2022

Russia’s defence ministry has just issued a statement maintaining that its troops are holding the Chernobyl nuclear plant in order to « protect it ».

Russian forces approaching Kyiv from northeast and east: Ukraine armyhttps://t.co/i2sqnv3v6Y pic.twitter.com/pjBK5zYKFv

— 🌎 Sarwar 🌐 (@ferozwala) February 25, 2022

It says it is doing so to ensure that « nationalistic groups and other terrorist organisations cannot use the situation in the country in order to stage a nuclear provocation ».

Russia also said that the levels of radiation in the plant’s surrounding area were normal and that staff were continuing to monitor levels of radioactivity.

Russian troops seized the notorious nuclear plant on Thursday – you can read more about its significance here.

Back-to-back explosions heard in Ukraine. Artillery shelling continues in Kyiv.

Times Network’s Maroof Raza and former diplomat Suresh Goel analyse the situation on ground in Ukraine#PutinEncirclesKyiv #PutinOnTheMarch

LIVE: https://t.co/PnafXxjR6E pic.twitter.com/exhTMaefrJ

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 25, 2022

Elsewhere in the statement, Russia made various claims about its gains in the war, saying troops had advanced in Donetsk and Luhansk. It also said more than 150 Ukrainian troops had surrendered and that dozens of Ukrainian military infrastructure sites, weapons and vehicles had been destroyed.

This is a Russian armed vehicle has run over a car WITH A MAN INSIDE. North of Kyiv, #Ukraine.

President Putin’s spokesperson says the Russian troops need to « clear Ukraine on nazis ».#NoToWar #StopTheWar #StopPutin pic.twitter.com/SIlyohqTO6

— защищённая характеристика (@avtorka_) February 25, 2022

Ukraine’s armed forces, meanwhile, made their own competing claims in a Facebook post earlier, saying that they were holding the line in Donetsk and Luhansk where Russian troops had had « no success » and had also pushed back Russian troops in other areas.

It is important to note that neither side’s claims can currently be verified.

« There are no age restrictions. »It tells people if they face problems signing up, they just need to refer to this official tweet.

✅Офіційна заява Командувача Сил ТрО Юрія Галушкіна:

‼️Сьогодні Україні потрібні всі. Всі процедури приєднання до ТрО спрощені. З собою мати лише паспорт та ідентифікаційний код. Вікових обмежень немає.

Якщо у вас на місцях будуть проблеми, посилайтесь на цю офіційну заяву.

— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 25, 2022

World Opinions – Agencies

L’article Russia attacks Ukraine: Russian forces close on Kyiv est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Kyiv on Thursday asked the UN Human Rights Council to hold an urgent debate on human rights in Ukraine « stemming from the Russian aggression », the United Nations said.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused Vladimir Putin of using the invasion to cover up corruption while standing trial from a Moscow prison.

In a video published by independent news outlet Dozhd, Navalny is heard expressing his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

Wearing a prison uniform, he says it would lead to a « huge number of victims, destroyed futures and the continuation of this line of impoverishment of the citizens of Russia ».Quote Message: This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country. from Alexei Navalny

This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country.Alexei Navalny

Navalny has been jailed for over a year on old fraud charges, after surviving a poison attack, which he and the West say was carried out by the Kremlin.

He is being tried inside the maximum security prison on new charges that could see his imprisonment extended by a decade.

The President of the Human Rights Council received a letter from Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, requesting the debate « as urgently as possible » during a session several weeks long to start next week in the Swiss city, it said in a statement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to attend that session on Tuesday.

The council’s bureau would meet to discuss Ukraine’s request on Friday, it said.

The human rights body’s 47 member states will have to decide whether or not to hold the debate.

The matter is likely to go to a vote as Russia is a member, as are the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council, China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The European Union has already signalled its support for such a debate.

« We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against #Ukraine, » the EU office in Geneva tweeted.

« We fully support the request by (Ukraine) for an urgent debate. »

World Opinions – agencies

L’article Ukraine requests ‘urgent’ Human Rights Council debate: UN est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the « imminent » threat of Russian military action in Ukraine justifies evacuating the US embassy in Kyiv.

His words came after Ukraine’s president urged calm, saying the biggest enemy was panic.

More than a dozen countries have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine.

Moscow, with more than 100,000 troops near the border, has denied it plans to invade.

The Kremlin’s top foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, has dismissed US warnings of an attack, saying « hysteria has reached its peak ».

The crisis comes eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula. Since then, Ukraine’s military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in eastern areas near Russia’s borders.

Saturday saw further attempts to de-escalate tensions in the region. In a phone call, President Joe Biden warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin of « swift and severe costs » if Russia sends in troops.

Mr Biden will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Sunday by phone.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, meanwhile, compared recent Western diplomatic efforts to stop an invasion to the appeasement of Nazi Germany.

Mr Wallace told the Sunday Times newspaper « there’s a whiff of Munich in the air », a reference to an agreement with Hitler that failed to prevent World War Two.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko however criticised Mr Wallace’s comments.

« It’s not the best time for us to offend our partners in the world, reminding them of this act which actually [brought] war, » he told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme.

World opinions – BBC News

L’article Ukraine tensions: US defends evacuating embassy as Zelensky urges calm est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.