Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the liberated city of Kherson

Ukrainian media reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj visited the southern city of Kherson, which had just been liberated.

The president’s office said it could not immediately confirm that Zelenskyy had traveled to Kherson, and he himself said on Facebook on Sunday that he was at his office in the capital, Kyiv.

But he was photographed on Monday posing with troops in a central square in Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of committing “the same atrocities as in other regions of our country” before forcing them to withdraw from and around the strategically important southern city of Kherson.

In his nightly video address on Sunday, Zelenskyy said without detail that “investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes and the bodies of civilians and military personnel have been found.”

“In the Kherson region, the Russian army left behind the same atrocities as in other regions of our country,” he said. “We will find every murderer and bring them to justice. Without doubt.”

The end of Russia’s eight-month occupation of the city of Kherson has sparked days of celebration, but also uncovered a humanitarian emergency that has left residents without electricity and water and short of food and medicines. Russia still controls about 70% of the wider Kherson region.

Zelenskyi said Russian soldiers who were left behind when their military commanders left the city last week will be arrested. He also spoke, again without detail, of the “neutralization of saboteurs”.

Ukrainian police have urged residents to help identify those who have collaborated with Russian forces.

Zelenskyy urged people in the liberated zone to also pay attention to booby traps, saying: “Please do not forget that the situation in the Kherson region is still very dangerous. First of all, there are mines. Unfortunately, one of our engineers was killed and four others injured while clearing mines.”

And he promised essential services would be restored.

“We are doing everything we can to restore normal technical possibilities for electricity and water supply as quickly as possible,” he said. “We bring back transport and mail. Let’s bring back an ambulance and normal medicine. Of course, the work of authorities, the police and some private companies is already beginning to be restored.”

Residents said retreating Russian troops looted the town and carted away loot as they withdrew last week. They also destroyed vital infrastructure before retreating across the broad Dnieper to its east bank. A Ukrainian official described the situation in Kherson as “a humanitarian catastrophe”.

Restoring power is a priority as gas supplies are already secured, said Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevich.

The Russian withdrawal marked a triumphant milestone in Ukraine’s defense against Moscow’s invasion nearly nine months ago. In the past two months, the Ukrainian military has claimed to have recaptured dozens of towns and villages north of the city of Kherson.

Ukraine’s recapture of Cherson was the latest in a series of embarrassing battles for the Kremlin. It came about six weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Kherson region and three other provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine – in violation of international law – and declared them Russian territory.