In Ukraine, a rare truce in the Kherson region is coming to an end: evacuation from Oleshky and new strikes on the energy system

A rare truce is coming to an end

A localized truce along the front line in Ukraine's Kherson region, in effect since Tuesday, is due to end on Sunday at 22:59 Kyiv time (21:00 GMT). BBC News reports. The pause, arranged with the mediation of US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo, initially covered only Oleshky, occupied by Russia since the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, and was later extended to a wider part of the Kherson region. While the truce held, fighting continued in other parts of the country.

Evacuation from Oleshky

The town was squeezed between the Dnipro River and Russian positions: escape routes were mined and under the threat of drone attacks. Residents faced an acute shortage of food, water and electricity — many, according to the BBC, boiled garden weeds to survive. The truce allowed those who wished to leave the town, and on Saturday there were emotional reunions of relatives who had not seen each other for years. Ukrainian military positions are just 5 km from Oleshky, yet the evacuees had to travel through occupied territories into southern Russia, then fly to Belarus and only afterwards cross Ukraine's northern border. According to Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, the oldest of the evacuees was 94 years old, the youngest one year old.

Strikes on energy and the request for Patriot

While silence held in the Kherson region, Russia, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, struck energy infrastructure in four regions overnight into Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity. In the Vinnytsia region, another overnight strike killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, electricity had been restored to most consumers by evening, but more than 60,000 remained without power. Due to regular attacks on energy facilities across the country, emergency blackouts have been introduced: even in Kyiv, electricity is off for most of the day, and there are interruptions in water supply as well. Zelensky called the intensity of Russian strikes over the past week the need for Patriot missiles — which, he said, are the only effective weapon against Russian ballistic missiles — and urged faster deliveries.

Retaliatory strikes

Ukraine, according to Zelensky, struck a major rocket fuel producer in Russia's Rostov region: a fire broke out and four production facilities were damaged. Thus, even during the days of the local truce in the Kherson region, the war continued on other fronts — both through strikes on Ukraine's energy system and attacks on targets in the Russian rear.

Image source, State Emergency Service of Ukraine