Curfew ordered in Kherson

MOSCOW/KYIV — A curfew was imposed in Kherson on Saturday, Russia's TASS news agency reported, after Moscow transferred all its armed forces to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River on Friday.

In a video posted on the administration's Telegram channel, Yaroslav Yanushevich, a local Ukrainian official in Kherson, said it has to "impose a curfew starting today, from 5 pm to 8 am", citing mine clearance efforts.

"I would also like to inform you that coming into the city and leaving it will be restricted to ensure demining activities," he added. Ukraine has taken control of the southern city after Russia withdrew its forces.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing on Friday: "In the Kherson direction today at 5 am Moscow time, the transfer of units of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper River was completed. Not a single piece of military equipment and weapons were left on the right bank."

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kherson region remains part of the Russian Federation as its status is "legislatively fixed". "There are no, and cannot be any, changes," he said.

In a video address on Friday evening, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed getting Kherson back as "a historic day". Special military units were inside with defending troops on the outskirts, he said.

Commenting on the fighting in the east, Zelensky described it as hellish battles in the region of Donetsk, where forces were putting up a much stiffer fight.

On fertilizer exports, Russia on Saturday restated its insistence on unhindered access to world markets for its food and fertilizer exports after what it called a "thorough exchange of views" with United Nations officials the day before in Geneva.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry did not address the question of whether Moscow is ready to renew the Black Sea initiative agreed in July that allowed Ukraine to resume grains exports, a deal that expires on Saturday.

In another development, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi emphasized in a phone call that they will "further enhance cooperation in the political, trade and economic fields, including the transport and logistics sector", the Kremlin said on Saturday.

Xinhua - Agencies