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A rare humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine’s front-line Kherson region that allowed civilians to evacuate the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky ended on Sunday night. The localised truce was due to expire at 22:59 Ukrainian time, or 21:00 GMT, although fighting had continued in other areas while the pause held.
Energy Infrastructure and Casualties
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia targeted energy infrastructure across four regions overnight on Saturday, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes. Repair crews worked throughout the day to restore connections, though the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported that more than 60,000 customers remained without power by early evening despite most connections being restored.
Regular attacks on energy networks have forced the implementation of emergency power cuts nationwide. In Kyiv, electricity is cut for the majority of the day, causing disruptions to water supplies as well.
Separately, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine announced that an overnight strike in the Vinnytsia region resulted in the deaths of two people, which included a 13-year-old girl. In response to the ongoing bombardment, Zelensky reported that a Ukrainian strike hit a major missile fuel producer in Russia’s Rostov region, sparking a fire and damaging four production facilities.
Calls for Air Defense Support
Zelensky noted via social media that the intensity of Russian strikes reached an “extremely high” level over the past week. He explained that Moscow was attempting to exploit shortages of ballistic missile interceptors.
Zelensky added that “every day” Ukraine communicated its need for Patriot missiles – identified as the only effective weapon against deadly Russian ballistic missiles – to the United States, Europe, and other partners. He expressed gratitude for previous support and longer-term commitments while urging for more immediate aid.
Details of the Kherson Ceasefire and Evacuations
The limited pause in hostilities, which began on Tuesday, was brokered with assistance from US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo. Originally restricted to Oleshky – occupied by Russia since the full-scale invasion in February 2022 – the truce was later expanded across the wider Kherson region.
Oleshky had been trapped between Russian forces and the Dnipro river, leaving escape routes mined and targeted by drones. Trapped residents faced acute shortages of food, water, and electricity, with many boiling garden weeds to survive.
The truce enabled residents to leave Oleshky, prompting emotional reunions on Saturday between family members who had been separated for years. According to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, the oldest evacuee was 94 years old and the youngest was one year old.
Evacuees faced a complex journey to safety, as Ukrainian military positions are situated just 5 km, or 3.1 miles, from Oleshky. Civilians had to travel through Russian-occupied territory to southern Russia, board flights to Belarus, and finally travel by road across Ukraine’s northern border.
