Kherson braces for return of war as localised Russia-Ukraine truce ends
The longest multi-day truce between Russia and Ukraine, limited to Ukraine's eastern Kherson region, has come to an end with no violations reported by either side, but also no sign of an extension.
The truce, which ended on Sunday night, allowed hundreds of besieged residents of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky to be evacuated in a rare joint operation between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russian strikes elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday left hundreds of thousands of households without power, while Russian authorities reported major damage to an industrial site following Ukrainian drone attacks on the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Rare Joint Operation
The six-day localised ceasefire in the front-line Oleshky and the surrounding area was reached after mediation efforts by United States First Lady Melania Trump and with the involvement of Pope Leo XIV. It was set to expire at 10:59pm Ukraine time (20:59 GMT). On Sunday, Ukraine's military evacuated 167 more people from threatened areas of the southern Kherson region, including 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility requiring special assistance.
Units of civil-military cooperation of the 'South' group of forces, in cooperation with representatives of local authorities, evacuated 167 civilians to safer points in the Kherson region.
Evacuation Choices
An estimated 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice to evacuate to Kyiv-controlled territory of Ukraine or territory occupied by Russia, or to remain in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.
No Extension
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had a positive view of how the operation was conducted in Oleshky, as well as of the coordination between the two countries' human rights commissioners. However, a Ukrainian official told the AFP news agency that Russia reportedly refused an offer to extend the ceasefire after Kyiv's Foreign Ministry proposed it.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to be vigilant as the expiry of the ceasefire neared. 'I also strongly urge you not to visit the so-called 'red zones' – areas and settlements near the Dnipro [River],' Prokudin wrote on Telegram. 'The intensity of Russian strikes there remains high, and the threat to life is extremely high.'
Fighting Continues
Elsewhere, Moscow and Kyiv have continued air strikes, with Zelenskyy saying Russia continues to target Ukraine's energy systems before winter. Attacks on power infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions overnight cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of households. A Russian attack killed three people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia when a drone hit the grounds of a vocational school.
Russian drone attacks targeting Ukraine's Kyiv region for a second consecutive day wounded a woman and damaged homes, energy infrastructure and a retail establishment. Ukraine's Air Force reported that Moscow's forces attacked Ukraine with 433 drones overnight, of which 371 were destroyed or suppressed. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, sparking a blaze at the Kstovo oil refinery.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv also struck a factory for missile components and air defence facilities in Russia's southern Rostov region. 'We are justly defending ourselves against Russian aggression and doing everything to reduce Russia's capability to continue it,' Zelenskyy said.
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