Civilians in Ukraine’s south-eastern Kherson region spent Sunday preparing for the end of a local ceasefire that the Associated Press describes as the most significant truce between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion began nearly five years ago. The Agence France-Presse news agency calls it the longest truce of the war.
The White House has said United States First Lady Melania Trump helped broker the limited truce, which began early on Tuesday and was due to end on Sunday evening. According to AFP, neither side had announced an extension.
The pause in fighting allowed besieged residents of the front-line city of Oleshky to be evacuated in a rare joint operation that ended on Saturday. An estimated 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the truce took hold. Those evacuated were offered the choice of moving to territory controlled by Ukraine or by Russia, or of staying in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.
Fighting continued elsewhere. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia was still targeting Ukraine’s energy systems ahead of winter, leaving hundreds of thousands of families without power overnight. Ukraine’s air force said Moscow’s forces attacked with 433 drones overnight, of which 371 were destroyed or suppressed. A Russian drone attack in the Vinnytsia region killed three people, including a 13-year-old girl, and wounded four others, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
In Kherson city itself, residents remained calm on the ceasefire’s final day. The local theatre, which now performs in a basement, staged a concert as planned. Its head, Oleksandr Knyha, told the audience: ‘Whatever happens, the show is not canceled.’
Pope Leo, who had pressed Russia for a truce in Oleshky, said he hoped the temporary pause would ‘strengthen the desire for dialogue and lead to new concrete peace initiatives’, AFP reported.
Featured image: stock photo for illustration only, not a photo of this event.
Source: Associated Press with additional reporting from AFP
