Russian forces withdrew on Thursday from the town of Nova Kakhovka, located on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Reuters and AFP reported. Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the region, denied that Russian troops had retreated

“On March 22, 2023 (Wednesday), all units of the occupying army stationed in the settlement of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, left the city,” the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said in a Telegram message.

The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dnieper, from where Russian troops withdrew in November last year after abandoning positions on the western bank in the face of a counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops.

However, the ministry did not specify whether the Ukrainian military took control of the city.

This information could not be immediately independently verified.

Nova Kakhovka, which had a population of 45,000 before the war, is northeast of Kherson, a city the Russians abandoned in November 2022 to retreat across the Dnipro.

“Start the withdrawal of troops and take all measures for the safe transfer of personnel, weapons and equipment across the Dnipro,” the commander of the invasion forces of the Russian Federation ordered Shoigu.

This city is also near the Kakhovskaya HPP, which was occupied by the Russians at the beginning of the offensive against Ukraine in late February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi visited Kherson in the south of the country on Thursday, where he inspected some of the infrastructure destroyed by Russian forces, the visit came a day after the Kremlin leader was near the front line near the besieged city of Bakhmut.