US and Chinese presidents agree nuclear war ‘should never be fought’, White House says; Zelenskiy accuses Russia of more than 400 war crimes. This live blog is now closed

• At a glance: what we know on day 264 of the invasion

Hanna Arhirova is in Kherson for Agence France-Presse, and she has spoken to 73-year-old Yevhen Teliezhenko. He and his wife have been driving around the city, flying their Ukrainian flag and asking the soldiers who liberated them to autograph it.

“They were fighting for us. We knew we were not alone,” he said. “Finally freedom!” said 61-year-old Tetiana Hitina, Teliezhenko’s wife. “The city was dead.”

This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. I will be with you for the next few hours.

People take stock after Ukrainian soldiers liberate city from forces that aimed to make them ‘suffer as much as possible’

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

After two nights of jubilation following the liberation of their city, the people of Kherson on Sunday began to assess the extent of the damage wreaked by eight long months of Russian occupation, with residents still without electricity and water.

On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russian soldiers of war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson. “Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found. The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered,” he said.

Ukraine’s step towards victory presents challenges, but demonstrates what can be done with a steady supply of western support

The Russian decision to withdraw from the Ukrainian city of Kherson to defensive positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River was driven by sound military logic. Russian control of the city could only be maintained at a steep price in troops and materiel. Operationally, the withdrawal should help the Russians stabilise their defensive positions over the winter. Strategically, the withdrawal is an unambiguous Russian defeat.

When Ukraine launched its counteroffensive against Kherson at the end of August its military knew it lacked the combat power to storm the city. However, strikes on the bridges over the Dnipro limited Russia’s ability to supply its troops with heavy equipment, while the river protected Ukrainian forces from counterattack. This favourable battlefield geometry allowed Ukraine to create a killing area in which its artillery could inflict heavy casualties on Russia’s most motivated and competent units.

Zelenskiy says Russian forces destroyed all of Kherson’s critical infrastructure before fleeing as work to restore power under way

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Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Kyiv’s forces have established control in more than 60 settlements in the Kherson region and “stabilisation measures” are being carried out in Kherson city after it was retaken by Ukrainian forces. Zelenskiy said that Russian forces had destroyed all of Kherson’s critical infrastructure before they fled, including communications and water supplies along with heat and electricity supplies.

Ukrainians hailed Russia’s retreat from Kherson as Kyiv said it was working to de-mine the strategic southern city after the eight-month occupation and restore power across the region. In the formerly occupied village of Pravdyne, outside Kherson, returning locals embraced their neighbours, some unable to hold back tears, Agence France-Presse reported. “Victory, finally!” one said.

The head of Kherson’s regional state administration said everything was being done to “return normal life” to the area. Yaroslav Yanushevych said from Kherson city in a video posted to social media that while de-mining was carried out, a curfew had been put in place and movement in and out of the city had been limited.

Pro-Moscow forces are putting up a much stiffer fight elsewhere and the battles with Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region are hellish, Zelenskiy said. “There it is just hell – there are extremely fierce battles there every day. But our units are defending bravely – they are withstanding the terrible pressure of the invaders, preserving our defence lines,” he said.

Ukraine would decide on the timing and contents of any negotiation framework with Russia, according to a readout of a meeting between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at the Asean summit in Cambodia in Phnom Penh.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has spoken to his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, by phone and both leaders placed emphasis on deepening political, trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. The discussion of “a number of topical issues on the bilateral agenda” also including the transport and logistics sector, the Kremlin said. It did not say when the phone call took place and made no mention of Iranian arms supplies to Moscow.

Significant new damage to the major Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine can be seen following Russia’s withdrawal from nearby Kherson, Reuters reported the US satellite imagery company Maxar as saying.

Russia said there was no agreement yet to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, repeating its insistence on unhindered access to world markets for its own food and fertiliser exports, Reuters reported.

The first reporter to reach Mylove hears how special forces swept in and Russian troops blew up the local school before leaving

At 5am on Wednesday Serhii Melnikov heard a noise outside. The Russian soldiers who were living in the house opposite – number six, Shevchenko street – were packing up to leave. They had occupied the village of Mylove in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region for eight long months. Now they were off, as part of a humiliating pull-out from the right-bank of the Dnipro river and the city of Kherson.

“Vladimir Putin said Russia would be here for ever. In the end they left in five minutes and ran away like goats,” Melnikov told the Observer, the first newspaper to reach Mylove since its liberation late on Thursday. He added: “Putin wanted to kill us. He’s ended up destroying his own country. Russia’s retreat from Kherson is an enormous failure.”

This live blog has now closed, you can read more on Ukraine’s recapture of Kherson here

The absence of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in connection with announcements about his forces’ retreat from key areas of Ukraine is being discussed by commentators.

The distance has been deliberate, writes New York Times national correspondent Neil MacFarquhar, who adds:

With each new pronounced setback in Ukraine, however, it is getting harder for Mr. Putin to separate himself from the whiff of failure, which is gradually eroding his image as a decisive, indomitable leader.

There is a withdrawal of Russian troops to more fortified positions. But there were still populated points where we saw battles.

They withdraw because they suffer losses, very heavy losses. What’s more, they don’t even take the bodies of their soldiers and leave the wounded behind.