Kyiv reports rapid advances of seven kilometres after Moscow said it would leave the key city.
The Ukrainian army says it has made major gains over the last day around Kherson, after Russia said it was withdrawing from the southern city.Kyiv has also claimed big pushes on two fronts near Kherson, including advances of 7km in some places.
Gen Zaluzhny said his soldiers had driven forward on two fronts on the western bank of the Dnipro river - an area of land which encompasses Kherson - taking control of 12 settlements. Later on Thursday, a video message posted by another military official said the Russian-occupied part of Mykolaiv region had been entirely cleared of Russian soldiers.
Kherson was the first - and only - regional capital to fall into Russian hands after it invaded Ukraine on 24 February. Jens Stoltenberg, the chief of the Nato military alliance of Western nations, said it was clear Russia was under "heavy pressure" but that it was important to see "how the situation on the ground develops".
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