Teared residents embrace Ukrainian soldiers after the city's liberation

Ukrainian soldiers are expected as heroes from residents who have been living under Russian occupation for months, while Kiev continues to recover dozens of settlements from Russian soldiers, according to “Daily Mail”.

Videos posted on social networks show Ukrainian troops in the freed city of Balakliia and its joyful embrace.

Images come as Ukrainian forces move rapidly on the main railway that supplied Moscow's forces to the east on Friday, following the sudden fall of a section of the first Russian line, which caused the most dramatic change at the moment of the war since its beginning.

In a speech, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops had “freed dozens of settlements” and had recovered more than 385 square miles of territory in the east and south just last week.