Residents in Kherson brace for end of short ceasefire as strikes continue elsewhere

Civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region prepared for renewed fighting on Sunday as a localized ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow entered its final hours. The pause in hostilities, which began Tuesday, marked the first major truce in the front-line area since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion four and a half years ago.

The White House stated that U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helped broker the limited agreement. The ceasefire allowed for a joint evacuation operation in the besieged city of Oleshky that concluded Saturday. Approximately 2,000 civilians were in the city when the truce took effect. Those residents could choose to move to Ukrainian or Russian controlled territory or remain in Oleshky with new supplies of food and medical aid.

Officials did not release exact figures for those who stayed to ensure the safety of those who remained. At the Ukrainian border on Saturday, family members gathered to reunite with loved ones. Residents from nearby villages lined the highway, waving flags and flashlights to greet the humanitarian convoy as it arrived.

Despite the local quiet, aerial attacks continued in other parts of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces remained focused on striking energy systems ahead of winter. He noted that hundreds of thousands of families lost power overnight as Moscow attempted to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems.

Zelenskyy posted on the social platform X that the intensity of strikes was extremely high. He said Russian forces were trying to take maximum advantage of the lack of ballistic missile interceptors. Ukraine’s air force reported that Moscow launched 433 drones overnight, destroying or suppressing 371 of them.

In Kherson, daily life continued with a sense of cautious normalcy. Oleksandr Knyha, head of the Mykola Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater, addressed an audience Sunday. He told them not to be afraid and to keep holding on. The theater performs every weekend and plans to do so next week despite warnings that Russian forces have increased weapons and personnel in the area.

Knyha said the company has worked on the front line for four years and has never canceled a show. About 100 of the theater’s 120 staff members work in Kherson, and none have evacuated. The group now performs in a basement and is equipping an additional bomb shelter. On the final day of the truce, the theater staged a concert featuring songs from Crimea to the Carpathian mountains.

Costume maker Alla Vasylenko, 58, said the silence of the truce still frightened her. She believes conditions will return to normal because trusting the Russians means not trusting oneself. She has no plans to leave due to ten dogs she cares for. She estimated the trip out of the region would cost 30,000 to 50,000 hryvnias, a large sum for her household.

Vasylenko said residents lack certainty about when the conflict on the Russian-occupied left bank will end. Knyha, who is from Oleshky, said he remains in Kherson because he hopes to return home. He described the theater’s work as a way to unite people and give them hope.

Drone attacks also continued in Russia. Local authorities in the Nizhny Novgorod region said more than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over their skies on Sunday. Governor Gleb Nikitin reported that an industrial building in the town of Kstovo sustained significant damage. Russian media later reported that the attack sparked a fire at the Kstovo oil refinery. Zelenskyy confirmed that Kyiv struck a factory making missile components in the Rostov region.