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Volodymyr Minko was at home in Dudchany, in the Kherson region of Ukraine, cleaning windows with his wife, when they noticed Russian soldiers hurrying out of a house across the street. The soldiers, Mr. Minko said, grabbed their belongings and fled in cars, leaving behind some weapons and ammunition.

“They left in such a rush,” Mr. Minko, 64, said. “It was obvious what was happening at that point: It was the end of them.”

The withdrawal of Russian forces last week from several villages on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including Dudchany, brought a welcome respite from the fear and unease that had gripped the area for months. But even as Ukrainian forces reclaim territory in Kherson, in the country’s south, the presence of the Russian occupation lingers — in possessions and munitions forsaken along the front lines, but also in the minds of residents who still remain far too close to the conflict.

Although homes in Dudchany sustained little structural damage, a few days ago a man there was killed in a Russian shelling attack. On a recent day, smoke bloomed to the south, from Ukrainian artillery shells that had detonated.

Since last Tuesday, when Ukrainian forces entered the village, Mr. Minko and his wife, Nataliia Minko, have been serving them meals while listening to the sound of Russian aircraft circling their otherwise bucolic settlement.

Mrs. Minko, 52, smiled as she ladled borscht into bowls in her kitchen before taking it out to Ukrainian soldiers who sat around her garden table. On Tuesday, she said, she and Mr. Minko awoke early to see three cars driving down the nearby highway.

“Listen!” Mr. Minko said, according to her recounting. “Those cars sound different from the Russian ones.”

As the cars approached, they realized it was Ukrainian soldiers who were coming.

“We hugged them,” Mrs. Minko said, “and cried.”

In a house at the opposite end of the street, Sereda Snizhana, 28, held her two children, Artem, 2, and Ilona, 4. They had been without electricity, gas and water for months, and could not afford to buy firewood.

“We didn’t want to leave because we didn’t want to leave our home,” Ms. Snizhana said. “We’re now relying on help from the Ukrainian soldiers.”

Back at the Minko household, Mr. Minko scoffed when asked about Russia’s attempts to illegally annex Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions after referendums in September that were widely discredited.

“I voted no in the sham referendum,” he said. “I’ve been living in Ukraine for 64 years. Why should I vote to join Russia? It was hilarious to be a ‘part’ of Russia, because it was fake. Everything was decided before the referendum.”

But not all of the approximately 3,000 Russian soldiers who were stationed in Dudchany immediately abandoned their posts. On Friday night, Mrs. Minko said, the Ukrainians caught an enemy soldier sleeping, hidden in a haystack.