KHERSON, Ukraine — The Oleshky ceasefire expired on Sunday at midnight Moscow time (9 p.m. GMT), ending a six-day local truce around the Russian-held town of Oleshky and the wider Kherson region, according to Reuters. There was no immediate indication that hostilities had resumed on either side.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its units, working with local authorities, “evacuated 167 civilians to safer points in the Kherson region” on Sunday. The evacuees included 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility who required special assistance, according to the statement.
Kherson regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to stay vigilant as the expiry neared. “I also strongly urge you not to visit the so-called ‘red zones’ – areas and settlements near the Dnipro,” Prokudin wrote on Telegram. “The intensity of Russian strikes there remains high, and the threat to life is extremely high.”
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on Telegram that both sides had “upheld the obligations they undertook throughout the duration of this period.” Lubinets said he and Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, were “exploring possibilities to continue similar humanitarian efforts.” In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia viewed the Oleshky operation positively, as well as the coordination between the two countries’ human rights commissioners, according to Russian news agencies cited by Reuters.
The ceasefire was reached after mediation efforts by U.S. first lady Melania Trump and with the involvement of Pope Leo XIV. Writing on X, Melania Trump 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.”
On Saturday, residents of Oleshky crossed into Ukraine after travelling by bus via Crimea to the Russian town of Anapa and flying from there to Belarus before continuing into Ukraine. Those leaving the town were first taken to Crimea in 25 buses and nine ambulances, Lantratova said, before splitting into separate convoys. How many residents chose to stay in Oleshky, which lies on the Dnipro River opposite the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson, was not known.
The truce, in place since Tuesday, allowed roads to be demined and food, medicines and other supplies to be brought into the town. Fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday, with regional governors and emergency services reporting one death in a strike in the Sumy region and at least one in the central Vinnytsia region, Reuters reported.
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