- Dec 29, 2008
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Ukrainian soldiers were mobbed by crowds as they entered Kherson on Friday as the sound of gunfire and explosions was replaced by car horns and singing to celebrate the end of more than eight months of Russian occupation.
Soldiers were held aloft, hugged and pulled tight for selfies in jubilant scenes after Russian rule finally came to an end in the first major city to be captured by Moscow.
Russia's retreat from the southern city marked the close of one of the most hard-fought battles of the war so far and a major defeat for Vladimir Putin, who just two months ago announced the annexation of Kherson.
Locals tore down Russian propaganda billboards, including "Russia here forever" that was plastered across the region, and raised Ukrainian flags as they waited for advancing Ukrainian troops.
By the afternoon, images of the first of Kyiv's soldiers inside the city itself were circulating on Ukrainian social media channels.
One video showed residents, many draped in the yellow and blue of their national flag, chanting “Slava do ZSU” – glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces – as the first troops arrived outside Kherson’s regional administration building.
Nobody loves you, Ivan.
Soldiers were held aloft, hugged and pulled tight for selfies in jubilant scenes after Russian rule finally came to an end in the first major city to be captured by Moscow.
Russia's retreat from the southern city marked the close of one of the most hard-fought battles of the war so far and a major defeat for Vladimir Putin, who just two months ago announced the annexation of Kherson.
Locals tore down Russian propaganda billboards, including "Russia here forever" that was plastered across the region, and raised Ukrainian flags as they waited for advancing Ukrainian troops.
By the afternoon, images of the first of Kyiv's soldiers inside the city itself were circulating on Ukrainian social media channels.
One video showed residents, many draped in the yellow and blue of their national flag, chanting “Slava do ZSU” – glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces – as the first troops arrived outside Kherson’s regional administration building.
Nobody loves you, Ivan.
