The Russians left Blagodatne in the same direction they had come from the isolated Ukrainian village under cover of darkness to join the rest of the Russian forces retreating across the Dnipro, Reuters reported.

After more than eight months of occupation, only a few residents remain in the village, and there were tears of relief and joy after Ukrainian forces returned unopposed on Thursday.

There were also unpleasant memories and unanswered questions. Villagers identified at least one neighbor who was shot dead by the Russians and three who they said were taken away by occupation forces and never heard from again.

“I had two nights of restful sleep,” said Halyna, a petite 81-year-old who was born in Volgograd, Russia, and whose parents moved to the village when she was 11.

Standing with tears in her eyes, leaning against her rusted bicycle, she added: “They were shooting from three sides all the time. But two nights ago they left. Now they have to leave Kherson.”

Serhiy Kalko, another of the 60 or so people who remained in Blagodatny out of a pre-war population of 1,000, was amazed at how peaceful the final retreat was.

“They left in silence. They didn’t even talk to each other,” the 43-year-old told Reuters.

Reuters reached Blagodatny on Friday, about 20 kilometers north of the city of Kherson.

It was one of dozens of settlements that Ukrainian forces have recaptured in recent days as Russia retreats from the area, a significant defeat for it.

The main prize was Kherson itself, where the footage shows dozens of people applauding and chanting victory slogans, and the first Ukrainian troops who arrived took selfies in the crowd.

In the surrounding towns and villages, residents talked about life under occupation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Robbery, death and disappearance

According to the villagers’ estimates, there were about 100 Russian soldiers in Blagodatny.

Upon arrival, some villagers said, the Russians looked for anyone associated with groups that Moscow had long labeled nationalists. Troops also demanded residents surrender their cellphones, they added.

Villagers said that during the occupation, Russians broke into empty houses and ransacked them, stealing furniture and appliances such as televisions, stoves and refrigerators.

Kalko led Reuters to a neighbor’s house, where he pointed to a small window that he said a Russian soldier had broken with a rifle butt to gain entry.

The interior was littered with piles of clothes, toys, empty boxes and cabinets with broken doors.

“In every house where no one lived, everything of value was stolen,” he said, wiping away tears.

Mykhailo Godikin, 73, said the Russians shot dead his neighbor Vadyk Yevchen, 46, in March when he approached their position.

“He was a little drunk and headed towards the Russian positions near the trees,” Khodikin said, adding that the Russians dumped his body in the backyard for locals to bury.

According to Kalko, two young people – Vitaly Siroga and Yura Karpinsky – were detained and taken away around the same time, and since then no one has seen them. According to him, the Russians also took away his neighbor’s niece, who was wounded by a shell.

Moscow declared the territory a permanent part of Russia after holding so-called referendums in Kherson and three other regions in September, votes that Kyiv and Western governments denounced as illegal and coercive.

On Friday, the Ukrainian military captured positions dug in by the Russians along the road leading to the village.