Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that investigators had uncovered more than 400 Russian war crimes and found the bodies of both servicemen and civilians in areas of Kherson region freed from Russian occupation.
"Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
He said "stabilisation and the restoration of law" had been established in 226 settlements affecting more than 100,000 residents. Arrests of Russian soldiers and mercenaries were proceeding.
Zelenskyy also visited the liberated city of Kherson today to celebrate its recapture from Russian forces with joyful residents and troops after months of Russian occupation. He expressed hope that Russia's retreat from Kherson last week following a Ukrainian counter-offensive might mark the beginning of the end of the war.
Kherson was the only regional capital to be captured by Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine. The region, along with three others, was proclaimed by President Vladimir Putin to be part of Russia, at a ceremony in the Kremlin in September.
Kherson city was liberated by Ukrainian troops last week. Crowds of flag-waving Ukrainians greeted Kyiv's soldiers with hugs and kisses.
Zelenskyy thanked NATO and other allies for their support and said the delivery of high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) from the United States had made a big difference to Ukraine's war effort.
The withdrawal marked the third major Russian retreat of the war and the first to involve yielding such a large occupied city in the face of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive.
