Kherson Ceasefire Ends After Evacuations from Oleshky, Russia Declines Extension

A six-day localized ceasefire in Ukraine’s Kherson region expired on Sunday night after enabling civilian evacuations from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. Ukrainian officials said Russia declined an offer to extend the pause. The truce, which ran from October 27 to November 1, was the longest multi-day pause of its kind since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. It was reached after mediation efforts that involved U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV.

Ukraine’s military reported that it evacuated 167 civilians from threatened areas of the southern Kherson region on Sunday, including 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility who required special assistance. Earlier in the week buses had carried residents out of Oleshky itself. Melania Trump stated that nearly 800 people had been evacuated during the truce period. Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets confirmed the ceasefire had ended and described the temporary pause as an important step in joint humanitarian efforts. No violations were reported by either side while the truce was in force.

Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since the first days of the invasion. The town sits on the opposite bank of the Dnipro river from Ukrainian-controlled Kherson city. Routes out had been mined and subject to drone attack, leaving residents cut off from regular supplies of food and medicine. During the ceasefire Russian forces cleared sections of road to allow the humanitarian movement. Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to remain vigilant once the pause ended and to avoid so-called red zones near the river.

Fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine throughout the truce. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in four regions had left hundreds of thousands of households without power, including 200,000 in the Dnipro region and more than 80,000 near Kyiv. On Sunday evening Ukraine’s air force reported that the national air-alert application had apparently been subjected to hostile interference after false radiation warnings appeared. The air force stated there was no radiation threat and told the public to follow official channels.

Russian authorities reported a large drone attack on an industrial site in the Nizhny Novgorod region overnight, with more than 100 drones destroyed in the Kstovo district. The governor said early reports indicated no casualties. Ukrainian monitoring channels claimed an oil refinery had been targeted, though the governor did not confirm the specific facility. Power outages and drone activity underscore that the localized Kherson pause did not halt operations on other fronts.

The end of the ceasefire returns Oleshky and the surrounding area to the daily pattern of drone strikes and artillery that has defined the southern front for years. Ukrainian forces have held the right bank of the Dnipro while Russian forces control most of the left bank. The brief window allowed hundreds of civilians to move to safer territory, but both sides have already resumed or prepared for renewed activity. Residents in Kherson city reported the first quiet days in a long period during the truce; local officials now warn that strikes are expected to increase.

The mediation role played by the U.S. First Lady and the involvement of the Pope mark an unusual channel for a limited humanitarian arrangement in a war that has otherwise seen few sustained pauses. Whether the evacuations can be repeated or expanded will depend on whether either side sees further value in short, geographically confined truces. For now the six-day window has closed, and the front line around Oleshky returns to active status.