By James FitzGerald, KYIV
Ukraine
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.
Ukrainian troops say they have
taken back the key town of Snihurivka, 50km (30 miles) to the north of Kherson.
Kyiv has also claimed big
pushes on two fronts near Kherson, including advances of 7km in some places.
Russia says it has started to
exit the city - its top gain in the invasion - but the process could take
weeks.
Wednesday's
announcement was viewed as a major setback for Moscow's war
effort, though Ukrainian officials were sceptical - warning that the manoeuvre
could be a trap.
There was no immediate
evidence of any mass-scale Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
Ukraine's commander-in-chief
Valeriy Zaluzhny said on Thursday that he could not confirm or deny the
pull-out - but said his own forces had made important advances.
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.
The 7km gains were made
"during the past day", he said, as troops advanced along a
northern-eastern axis and a separate western axis.
Video footage showed soldiers
being greeted by locals in a square, apparently after entering the town of
Snihurivka.
Snihurivka sits at a major
road junction and is a rail hub for Mykolaiv region, which borders Kherson to
the north and west.
The regional administration in
Mykolaiv posted on the Telegram messaging app touting "lots of good news
today".
It fuelled speculation on
Thursday night that Ukrainian troops had reached the outskirts of Kherson
itself, after cryptically posting a single letter - "ch" in
Ukrainian.
This was taken as a possible
clue that troops had reached the suburban village of Chornobayivka. - BBC
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