Ukraine’s Longest Ceasefire Ends After Russia Refuses Extension in Kherson Region

The six-day local ceasefire in Ukraine’s Kherson region ended on Sunday night after Russia refused an offer to extend it, Ukrainian officials said. The pause was the longest halt in fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

The truce was in effect from October 27 to November 1. It covered the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky and the wider Kherson region, and it was arranged with help from United States First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo. The pause began on October 27, when a local ceasefire took effect around Russian-occupied Oleshky as an aid mission was readied. Neither side reported violations while it was in effect, according to AFP.

What the pause achieved

Ukraine’s military said it used the pause to evacuate 167 more civilians from threatened areas near the front line on the right bank of the Kherson region. The group included 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility, according to Ukraine’s General Staff, as reported by the Kyiv Independent and DW.

Oleshky lies on the Dnipro River opposite the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the first days of the invasion. About 2,000 civilians were still there when the truce began, DW reported, and residents had faced severe shortages of food, water and electricity.

Ukraine’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, confirmed the end of the truce. He called it “an important step in our joint humanitarian efforts” with Russia. A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Kyiv’s Foreign Ministry had offered to extend the truce and that Russia refused.

Warnings as the fighting resumes

Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to stay alert as the truce ran out. He warned people not to visit areas near the Dnipro that he described as red zones, and he said the intensity of Russian strikes there remained high.

Later on Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it suspected the country’s air raid alert system had been hacked after false alerts about a radiation threat appeared on the application. The air force said there was no radiation threat. Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications blamed Russia for the hack in a post on X, according to AFP.

Fighting continued elsewhere during the truce. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces struck energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions overnight into Sunday, and hundreds of thousands of homes lost power. Some electricity supplies were restored by Sunday. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that a separate overnight strike killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Vinnytsia region. Russian-installed authorities said Ukrainian strikes killed five people in Russian-occupied Ukraine between late Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians.

AFP reported that United States-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to resume this month.

Reporting based on coverage by AFP, the BBC, Life News Agency, and The Munich Eye.