Kherson Ceasefire Expires Sunday Night: Ukraine Evacuated 167 More Civilians as the Longest Local Truce of the War Ran Out

The longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 ran out on Sunday night. A six-day local ceasefire in Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region, reached after mediation efforts by U.S. first lady Melania Trump and with the involvement of Pope Leo, was due to expire at midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT), Reuters reported in a file opened and read directly by the desk this run.

Ukraine used the final day to move more people out. 'Units of civil-military cooperation of the South group of forces, in cooperation with representatives of local authorities, evacuated 167 civilians to safer points in the Kherson region,' Ukraine's General Staff wrote on Telegram, Reuters reported. The evacuees included 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility requiring special assistance. The evacuation came two days after busloads of residents were brought out of the embattled Russian-held town of Oleshky, travelling first by bus via Crimea to the Russian town of Anapa, then flying to Belarus before continuing to Ukraine, Reuters reported; how many chose to stay in Oleshky was not known.

Both sides said the truce itself held. The ceasefire had been holding since Tuesday without violations, according to Ukrainian and Russian officials, and it allowed them to de-mine roads and bring food, medicines and other supplies into the town, Reuters reported. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian news agencies, said Russia had a positive view of how the operation was conducted in Oleshky, and the pope said he hoped the cooperation would pave the way for broader peace efforts. Melania Trump, writing on X, said the ceasefire 'has provided residents with the freedom to move, access to food, clean water, medicine, plus a renewed sense of dignity without the constant threat of attack,' Reuters reported.

The danger on the other side of the deadline was stated plainly by the region's governor. Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to be vigilant as the expiry neared: 'I also strongly urge you not to visit the so-called red zones - areas and settlements near the Dnipro. The intensity of Russian strikes there remains high, and the threat to life is extremely high,' he wrote on Telegram, in Reuters' account. Military action continued elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday - regional governors and emergency services reported one death in a strike in the Sumy region and at least one in the central Vinnytsia region, Reuters reported. This file travels as major national and world news; the desk carries no claim of an extension, because none was reported in the Reuters file read this run.