Russia’s war on Ukraine latest news: Zelenskiy visits recaptured Kherson

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Russian and U.S. officials were reported on Monday to be holding talks in Turkey, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Kherson, the biggest prize his troops have won so far, and vowed to press on recapturing all occupied lands.

KHERSON RECAPTURE

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* Zelenskiy visited Kherson and celebrated Russia’s retreat.

* Russian and U.S. officials were holding unannounced talks in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, citing an unidentified source.

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* Zelenskiy said investigators had uncovered more than 400 Russian war crimes and found the bodies of servicemen and civilians in areas of Kherson region freed from Russian occupation. Reuters was unable to verify his allegations. Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians.

* Zelenskiy urged residents of Kherson region to be cautious about the presence of Russian mines.

* Utility companies were working to restore critical infrastructure mined by fleeing Russian forces, with most homes in Kherson still without power and water, officials said.

* Residents held flowers and kissed Ukrainian soldiers who were moving into the right bank of the Dnipro River.

BATTLE

* Zelenskiy said that fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region was “just as intense as they have been in previous days.”

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* The Ukraine Armed Forces’ southern command said Russian forces continued to “inflict fire damage on our troops and de-occupied settlements along the right bank of the Dnipro.”

DIPLOMACY

* Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend a summit of the G20 big economies in Indonesia, sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place. Moscow denied that Lavrov, 72, was ill after reports he had visited an Indonesian hospital.

* U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States will impose new sanctions on a transnational network of individuals and companies that have been working to procure military technologies for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. She was speaking on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.

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* Russia on Sunday called for the G20 to stop talking about security and focus on the world’s most pressing socio-economic problems, ahead of a summit set to be dominated by Western criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

* Chinese Premier Li Keqiang emphasized the “irresponsibility” of nuclear threats during a summit in Cambodia, suggesting Beijing is uncomfortable with strategic partner Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, a senior U.S. official said.

ART

* Renowned graffiti artist Banksy unveiled a work in Ukraine’s Borodyanka, which had been occupied by Russia until April and heavily damaged by fighting in the early days of Moscow’s invasion.

QUOTE

* “We have no electricity, no water, no internet, no communications, no heating. But there are no Russians either. And that’s why we are happy,” said Kherson resident Andrii, who did not give his last name. (Compiled by Himani Sarkar and Peter Graff)