Cheers in Kherson, Russian woes and a superyacht - Ukraine round-up
- Published
People in Kyiv gathered to celebrate the retreat of Russian forces from Kherson
There was jubilation as Ukrainian soldiers arrived in the key southern city of Kherson, and Russia announced it had fully withdrawn.
Ukraine's national flag was seen flying on the streets and local residents chanted as Kyiv's troops arrived.
"Our people. Ours. Kherson," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, hailing the "historic" day and pledging to recapture all of occupied Ukraine.
"Everyone is crying since this morning," said local resident Alexei Sandakov.
Kherson was the only regional capital taken by Russia after February's invasion.
The city fully returning to Ukrainian hands will represent a hugely consequential moment on the war, our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams writes.
He says the loss of Kherson is on a par with Moscow's humiliating withdrawal from its positions outside the capital Kyiv earlier this year.
Read more:
Putin can't escape Kherson fallout
Vladimir Putin celebrated his declared annexation of occupied Ukrainian regions in September
Meanwhile, Russian TV saw grim-faced presenters announcing the army's "difficult decision" to withdraw forces from Kherson.
Just six weeks ago, President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed the region alongside three other Ukrainian territories, and insisted they would be part of Russia forever.
One pro-war military blogger described the pullback as "a massive geopolitical defeat for Putin and Russia".
Our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, writes that the Kremlin has been trying hard to distance the president from the retreat, knowing many will see it as a blow to Russian prestige.
But that won't be easy, he says - after all, it was Mr Putin who ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
Read more about what the pullback means for the Russian leader.
The capture of a Russian superyacht
FBI agents said the Amadea "looked like a luxury yacht that was on a high-speed chase across the Pacific"
A US taskforce set up to seize Russian oligarchs' "ill-begotten gains" has captured a $325m (£307m) yacht.
The Amadea is roughly the length of a football pitch, with a helipad at one end and a 10-metre infinity pool at the other. Inside, there is a gym, beauty salon, cinema and wine cellar.
US investigators say it belongs to Russian billionaire senator Suleiman Kerimov - but he denies the claims.
There is a complex process behind tracking down the true ownership of superyachts.
Read more about how it was done, and how the Amadea was seized, here.
Russia's alternate digital reality
Yandex results about the killings of civilians in Bucha as if based in Russia (left) featured blog posts denying Russia is to blame, while Google's results in the UK spoke of evidence of atrocities
For a long time, the internet was the main space for alternative sources of information in Russia - with the Kremlin keeping a tight grip on TV media.
But in the first six months of the Ukraine war, Russian digital rights watchdog Roskomsvoboda estimates nearly 7,000 sites were blocked, including independent media and human rights groups.
BBC Monitoring has looked into what people in Russia see when they search the web now.
The experiment reveals an alternative reality dominated by Russian propaganda about the war.
- Published10 November 2022
- Published8 November 2022
- Published10 November 2022
