GENICHESK, March 23. /TASS/. Russian military forces remain in Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson Region, Vladimir Saldo, the region's acting governor, said on Thursday, adding that the information circulated by the Ukrainian army general staff was fake news.

"I officially declare that all Russian troops in Novaya Kakhovka, as well as in other places of deployment on the left bank of the Dnieper River, remain in their positions. I think the fake news from our enemy’s general staff was motivated by the weak PR effect generated by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky's visit to the Kherson Region. They need more virtual victories," the acting governor wrote on his Telegram channel.

The head of the Novaya Kakhovka municipal administration, Vladimir Leontiev, also dismissed reports about the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city. "Ukrainian propagandists planted yet another fake story, claiming that units of the Russian Armed Forces were leaving Novaya Kakhovka," he said.

"Naturally, this is a lie, which I state with full authority. However, today, indeed, something has disappeared from our city - the signal of Ukrainian mobile communications and radio, which the enemy was transmitting here from Berislav using a portable mobile system," he was quoted as saying on the Telegram channel of the Kherson Region administration. As became known from military sources, the transmission was knocked out by a direct hit.

Leontiev noted that all institutions and authorities in Novaya Kakhovka are operating on a routine basis. "The administration’s employees will head to work in the morning, Novaya Kakhovka residents will receive their pensions and social benefits at the usual sites. Utilities and emergency services are on duty. There is enough work to do," he summed up.

More than 20,000 residents remain in Novaya Kakhovka. Among them are many pensioners and people with low mobility. The city is shelled by Ukrainian artillery almost on a daily basis.