Ukraine news: Oleshky ceasefire ends as Russian attacks leave tens of thousands without power
A six-day ceasefire in Ukraine's Kherson region expired on Sunday evening after Russia refused to extend the truce brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, allowing for a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
The Ukrainian military evacuated 167 civilians from the partially occupied southern region of Kherson on Sunday, including 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility, as the localized ceasefire drew to a close. The truce, which only applied to the Kherson region, expired at 11 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Local governor Olexander Prokudin urged residents to remain alert and warned against approaching areas near the Dnipro river, where Russian drone and artillery strikes remained intense. Ukrainian officials had offered to extend the US-brokered ceasefire, but Russia refused, according to a senior Ukrainian official.
Humanitarian mission
The ceasefire, which the White House says was brokered by Melania Trump, had allowed for a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. Around 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the ceasefire took effect this week, with residents given the choice of leaving or staying in the city, which was resupplied during the truce.
The ceasefire across Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region has provided residents with the freedom to move, access to food, clean water, medicine, plus a renewed sense of dignity without the constant threat of attack.
Continuing attacks
Despite the ceasefire in Kherson, Russian attacks continued across Ukraine. A drone strike on Koziatyn in central Ukraine killed at least three people, including a 13-year-old girl, and injured four others, including three children. The drone exploded between a residential building and a school.
Hundreds of thousands of households lost electricity after overnight Russian strikes hit energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Substations, transformers, and power lines supplying electricity to homes were targeted in Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyi.
Peace talks preparations
Zelenskyy met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss preparations for a three-way summit between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States to be held in the first half of November. The leaders also agreed to work on a Black Sea grain corridor.
Meanwhile, Russia wants the opening rounds of renewed peace negotiations to involve only Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. The G20 foreign ministers refused to take part in a traditional group photo with Russia's Sergey Lavrov, reflecting diplomatic isolation.
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