Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the newly recaptured southern city of Kherson on Monday, where he delivered a rallying speech to soldiers.
Ukrainian troops arrived in the centre on Friday after Russia abandoned the city - the only regional capital it had captured since it launched its invasion in February - marking a major setback for Moscow.
Addressing troops on Monday, Mr Zelensky said: “We are moving forward.”
Thanking NATO and other allies for their continuing support in the war against Russia, he continued: “We are ready for peace, peace for all our country.”
Some Kherson residents were seen in tears as they gathered to listen to the president’s speech.
The recapture of Kherson marks the biggest prize yet won by Ukrainian forces. On Friday and over the weekend, people in the city were seen greeting arriving Ukrainian troops with joy.
In an overnight address, Mr Zelensky accused Russian forces of committing war crimes before they fled Kherson last week.
He said investigators had already documented more than 400 war crimes committed by the Russia’s during their eight month occupation.
“Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found,” he said.
“The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered.”
News agency Reuters has spoken to residents in formerly occupied parts of the Kherson region in recent days who have described killings and abductions of civilians, but has not verified such reports independently.
Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians or have committed atrocities in occupied areas.
Mass burial sites have been found in several other parts of Ukraine previously occupied by Russian troops, including some holding civilian bodies showing signs of torture, which Kyiv blames on Moscow.
