A rare humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region has ended after allowing civilians trapped in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky to evacuate.
The localised truce, which began last Tuesday, expired at 22:59 Ukrainian time (21:00 GMT) on Sunday. Although the ceasefire held in the designated area, fighting continued elsewhere across Ukraine.
The temporary pause in hostilities was brokered with assistance from US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo. It initially covered Oleshky before being extended to the wider Kherson region.
Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The city was effectively cut off, with the Dnipro River on one side and Russian forces on the other, while escape routes were mined and exposed to drone attacks.
Residents trapped in the city faced severe shortages of food, water and electricity, with some reportedly resorting to cooking garden weeds to survive.
The ceasefire allowed those wishing to leave to evacuate, resulting in emotional reunions between family members who had been separated for years.
However, the journey out was far from straightforward. Although Ukrainian military positions were just 5km from Oleshky, evacuees had to travel through Russian-controlled territory into southern Russia before flying to Belarus and eventually crossing Ukraine’s northern border by road.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the oldest evacuee was 94, while the youngest was just one year old.
Meanwhile, fighting elsewhere continued to take a heavy toll on Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilian population.
On Sunday evening, Ukraine’s air force warned that the country’s air alert application had apparently been hacked after it issued a false warning about radiation over Kyiv, suggesting a possible nuclear attack.
“The Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference. There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel,” the air force said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had attacked energy infrastructure in four regions overnight on Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity. Some connections were restored the following day.
Another overnight attack killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Vinnytsia region, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Ukraine also struck a major missile fuel producer in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire and damaging four production facilities, Zelensky said.
Repair teams continued working to restore electricity across Ukraine throughout Sunday. Most customers in the Dnipropetrovsk region had their power restored by early evening, although more than 60,000 people remained without electricity, the regional governor said.
Repeated Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have forced authorities to introduce emergency power cuts nationwide. In Kyiv, residents have faced electricity disruptions lasting most of the day, alongside interruptions to water supplies.
Zelensky said the intensity of Russian attacks had been “extremely high” over the past week, accusing Moscow of taking advantage of shortages in Ukraine’s ballistic missile interception systems.
He added that Ukraine was communicating its urgent need for Patriot missile systems to the United States, Europe and other partners “every day”.
The systems are considered Ukraine’s only effective defence against Russia’s deadly ballistic missiles.
While thanking international partners for their existing assistance and long-term commitments, Zelensky renewed his appeal for more immediate military support.
