A Ukrainian flag has been raised in the city of Kherson with reports of Russian soldiers having drowned during the chaotic retreat from the west bank of the river dividing the region.
In a statement carried by Russia‘s state news agencies, the defence ministry said the withdrawal was finished at 5am on Friday and that no military equipment was left on the western bank.
Areas the Russian military withdrew from include the city of Kherson, the only regional capital Moscow seized during its eight-month war in Ukraine.
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A member of the Kherson regional council said residents are being asked to stay at home while searches for any remaining Russian soldiers are carried out.
They also said many Russian troops drowned while trying to leave.
After the Russian retreat, a picture posted on social media appeared to show a Ukrainian flag being raised in the centre of the city by residents.
Sky’s Alex Rossi, reporting from Kherson region, said: “One woman told me that she has been pretty much living in her basement since the Russians took control of the area – many, many months, effectively living underground, living in fear.
“And she was absolutely delighted to see the Ukrainian soldiers that we were with.”
Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine a launching pad for supplies and troops to try to win back other lost territory in the south, including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.
A Kremlin spokesman has refused to acknowledge the retreat as humiliating for Vladimir Putin, the president.
Dmitry Peskov said Moscow continues to view the Kherson region as part of Russia.
“It is a subject of the Russian Federation – it is legally fixed and defined,” he said.
“There are no changes and there can be no changes.”
Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggested the spate of embarrassing defeats will ultimately lead to Mr Putin being deposed.
“Kherson right now – a picture Vladimir Putin said would never happen. It’s his third major defeat in this war – Kyiv, Kharkiv and now Kherson. At the end, he will lose the Kremlin as well,” he tweeted.
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Shortly before the Russian announcement, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation in the Kherson region as “difficult”.
It reported Russian shelling of some of the villages and towns Ukrainian forces reclaimed in recent weeks during their counteroffensive in the Kherson region.
A road bridge that links Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River also appears to have collapsed.
Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne, quoted local residents confirming the news on Friday.
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It is not immediately clear what caused the apparent collapse, but Russian media reports suggested the bridge was blown up after the withdrawal.