Moscow announced on Friday that its forces had completed their withdrawal from the strategic Ukrainian city of Kherson after Ukraine said it had reclaimed dozens of landmine-littered settlements abandoned by the Russians in the south. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had finished the pullout of troops from the western bank of the Dnipro river, Russia's state TASS news agency reported, two days after Moscow announced the surprise retreat.

"In the Kherson direction, the move of Russian military units to the left bank of the Dnipro River was completed at 0500 [Moscow time] this morning," the ministry said in a statement on social media.

"Not a single piece of military equipment or weaponry was left behind on the right bank," the statement added.

Ukrainian soldiers were seen in the village of Klapaya of the Kherson region, according to the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News on Friday, shortly after the Russian announcement.

(With input from Reuters)