President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the city of Kherson days after it was liberated by Ukrainian troops.
He spoke to soldiers, saying Ukraine is “moving forward” and ready for peace.
The loss of Kherson, taken in the early stages of the invasion, is a major setback for Russia – though Moscow insists it is still Russian territory.
Russia had declared it the administrative centre of the illegally-annexed Kherson region, and it was the only regional capital to be occupied.
Kherson was captured in March, in one of Russia’s major early successes in the war.
The region was then one of four to be illegally annexed after self-styled referendums were held in September.
At a ceremony in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson was “non-negotiable”.
But in the following weeks Ukraine began to make gains in the south of the country, advancing along Dnipro river towards Kherson and putting Russian forces under increasing pressure.
Finally, Russian forces withdrew and Ukrainian troops entered the city on Friday.
Locals were seen celebrating, some reuniting with loved ones they had not seen for months. The mood in the city was one of jubilation and relief, but also trepidation and fear of what may come next,the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen reported.
In his visit on Monday, Mr Zelensky told troops that Ukraine is “ready for peace, peace for all our country,” the Reuters news agency reported.
He thanked Nato and other allies for their support in the war against Russia, adding that high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) from the United States had made a big difference for Kyiv.
The president addressed a crowd gathered in Kherson’s main square, some of whom waved Ukrainian flags or wore them draped across their shoulders, a Reuters journalist in Kherson said.
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A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday adjourned indefinitely the trial of the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu in the terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
Justice Binta Nyako put off the trial sine die at the instance of Kanu, pending the resolution of the Federal Government’s appeal against the October 13 judgment of the Court of Appeal that discharged him from the terrorism charges.
The Federal Government’s appeal seeking reversal of the Court of Appeal judgment is pending before the Supreme Court.
During the hearing on Monday before Justice Binta Nyako, the federal government alleged that the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has refused to present himself before the Federal High Court in Abuja for his planned re-arraignment.
Kanu, who is currently in custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, is facing an amended 7-count terrorism charge.
A team of government prosecutors led by the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. M.B. Abubakar, told trial Justice Binta Nyako that the IPOB leader, declined to be brought before the court for trial .
“My lord, I understand that the defendant declined to come to court today.
“As at last week, the defendant was intimated of this sitting and he did not object. However, when I called the office this morning, I was informed that the defendant woke up and declined to come to court.
“All entreaties and pleas were made but he refused to come to court”, government lawyer told the court.
However, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, who is leading Kanu’s defence team, told the court that FG’s allegation was strange to him.
“My lord, this is totally strange to me because this is a person that has never hidden his intention to always be in court. In fact, even in processes we filed at both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, the defendant said he would want to be present in court for hearing of all the matters”, Ozekhome, SAN, added.
He further notified the trial judge about the judgement of the Court of Appeal that quashed the 15-count charge FG preferred against his client and discharged him of all the allegations.
Ozekhome contended that since FG has gone to the Supreme Court to set aside the judgement and his client also challenging the order that stayed the execution of the verdict, it was better for the matter to be adjourned sine-die (indefinitely).
Besides, he told the court that his client was not served with the amended charge.
“We have not even been served with this charge, we only read about it on the social media. It was this morning that we discovered that it has been listed on the cause list and I thought that my learned friend will stand up and say that in view of the subsisting Appeal Court judgement, that he is withdrawing it.
“We are surprised because this is an abuse of court process”, Ozekhome stated.
On his part,Mr. Abubakar, said he was not opposed to an adjournment to enable the Supreme Court to determine the appeals pending before it.
Consequently, trial Justice Nyako adjourned the case indefinitely.
Giving an update via his Twitter handle,Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said, “The court per His lordship Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, is in agreement with us that it lacks the jurisdiction to entertain any further charge against Kanu, in view of the landmark judgment of the Court of Appeal.
“The matter was consequently adjourned sine die pending the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court. We are winning! Supreme Court here we come! No going back on ONYENDU’s freedom.”
“Our appeal to set aside the order staying the execution of Onyendu’s judgment will be fixed for hearing any moment from now.
We shall keep you all posted,”
“ChukwuOkike Abiama is always on the throne. We move.”
Mr Zelensky said he is “really happy” about the liberation, as are the people of Ukraine.
Asked where Ukrainian forces might advance next, he said: “Not Moscow… We’re not interested in the territories of another country.”
In response to Mr Zelensky’s visit, the Kremlin said that Kherson was part of Russia.
“We leave this without comment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding: “You know, this territory is part of the Russian Federation.”
Mr Zelensky had previously said that investigators have uncovered more than 400 war crimes in areas of Kherson abandoned by Russian forces as they retreated.
The BBC has been unable to verify these allegations, and Moscow denies that its troops intentionally target civilians.
Source: BBC News