{"id":13013,"date":"2026-11-02T01:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13013"},"modified":"2026-11-02T01:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:19:06","slug":"civilians-in-ukraines-kherson-prepare-for-return-of-war-as-localized-ceasefire-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13013","title":{"rendered":"Civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson prepare for return of war as localized ceasefire ends"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Oleh<\/picture>
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Oleh Tarabaka, head of the Nova Kakhovka military administration, left, and Vadym, a Ukrainian sergeant of the 42nd Marine Brigade, right, help evacuate Antonina, a local resident, as they walk past a destroyed residential building in an area contaminated with anti-personnel mines, during a localized ceasefire linked to a humanitarian aid mission to Oleshky, in the village of Kozatske, Kherson region, Ukraine, Oct. 31. AP-Yonhap<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KHERSON, Ukraine \u2014 Civilians in Ukraine\u2019s southeastern Kherson region prepared Sunday for the end of a localized ceasefire that has marked the most significant truce between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly five years ago.<\/p>\n

The White House said that U.S. first lady Melania Trump helped to broker the limited truce , which began early Tuesday and is expected to end Sunday evening. The pause in hostilities allowed besieged residents in the front-line city of Oleshky to be evacuated in a rare joint operation that ended Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ceasefire across Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region 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,” Trump said on social media. “Let Oleshky become the starting point for lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

An estimated 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice of evacuating to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. For the safety of those who have stayed, exact numbers weren’t released after the evacuation.<\/p>\n

At the Ukrainian border Saturday, family members waited for a glimpse of their loved ones, while residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and flashlights to greet the humanitarian convoy.<\/p>\n

But Moscow and Kyiv have continued aerial strikes elsewhere, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Sunday that Russia continues to target Ukraine\u2019s energy systems before winter.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of families were left without power overnight as Moscow sought to exploit Ukraine\u2019s shortage of air defenses, Zelenskyy said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intensity of the strikes is extremely high, and the Russians are trying to take maximum advantage of the shortage of ballistic missile interceptors,\u201d he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Final day of ceasefire brings some respite<\/strong><\/p>\n

Residents in the Ukrainian city of Kherson remained calm Sunday, despite knowing that the quiet of the localized ceasefire would soon end.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid, keep holding on,\u201d Oleksandr Knyha, head of the Mykola Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater, told the audience as he opened a concert.<\/p>\n

The theater performs every Saturday and Sunday. This weekend\u2019s shows fell during the ceasefire, but the company plans to perform next weekend as usual, even as local officials warn that Russian forces have brought in more weapons and personnel and some residents expect shelling to intensify.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we want peace to finally come,\u201d Knyha said. But \u201cwe\u2019ve been working on the front line for four years,\u201d he added, referring to Kherson itself, and the theater has never canceled a performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever happens, the show is not canceled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company now performs in a basement and is equipping an additional bomb shelter. About 100 of the theater\u2019s 120 staff members work in Kherson, and none has evacuated.<\/p>\n

Costume maker Alla Vasylenko, 58, said that the silence of the brief truce still frightens her.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing will change,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything will go back to how it was before the ceasefire, because believing the Russians means not believing yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vasylenko has no plans to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have 10 dogs, so I can\u2019t leave,\u201d she said. \u201cThey urge us to leave, but you need somewhere to go and the means to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trip alone would cost 30,000 to 50,000 hryvnias ($650 to $1,080), a significant sum for her, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we liberate the left bank, we have no certainty this will end,\u201d Vasylenko said, referring to the Russia-occupied part of the region.<\/p>\n

For many in Kherson, a city that itself lived through Russian occupation, that belief is the reason they stay.<\/p>\n

Knyha is from Oleshky, on the occupied left bank, and used to commute from there to work in Kherson. He hasn\u2019t given up hope of returning home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s also what keeps me here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On the last day of the ceasefire, the theater staged a concert built around a \u201cmusical map of Ukraine,\u201d with songs from the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine’s southwest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also our job \u2014 to unite people and give them hope,\u201d Knyha said.<\/p>\n

\"Oleksii<\/picture>
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Oleksii Shavokin, 54, a local resident, stands in front of his house destroyed by Russian shelling during a localized ceasefire linked to a humanitarian aid mission to Oleshky, in the village of Kozatske, Kherson region, Ukraine, Oct. 31. AP-Yonhap<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russian drone attack kills 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, a Russian attack killed three people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia when a drone hit the grounds of a vocational school, Ukraine\u2019s State Emergency Service said. Four others were wounded, including two 5-year-old girls and a 16-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

Russian drone attacks also continued to target Ukraine\u2019s Kyiv region for a second consecutive day, wounding a woman and damaging homes, energy infrastructure and a retail establishment, regional authorities said.<\/p>\n

In its daily report Sunday, Ukraine\u2019s air force said that Moscow’s forces attacked Ukraine with 433 drones overnight, of which 371 were destroyed or suppressed.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, more than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the skies of Russia\u2019s Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, local Gov. Gleb Nikitin said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Nikitin said an industrial building in the town of Kstovo had sustained \u201csignificant damage,\u201d but didn’t give further details. Russian media outlets later reported that the attack sparked a blaze at the Kstovo oil refinery, sharing images of black plumes of smoke over the horizon.<\/p>\n

Local officials later placed limits on gasoline sales in the region after lines appeared at gas stations, Russian media outlets reported, citing Nizhny Novgorod\u2019s regional government. Diesel sales weren’t affected, they said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said Sunday that Kyiv had also struck a factory used to make missile components and air defense facilities inside Russia\u2019s southern Rostov region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are justly defending ourselves against Russian aggression and doing everything to reduce Russia\u2019s capability to continue it,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote.<\/p>\n

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Oleh Tarabaka, head of the Nova Kakhovka military administration, left, and Vadym, a Ukrainian sergeant of the 42nd Marine Brigade, right, help evacuate Antonina, a local resident, as they walk past a destroyed residential building in an area contaminated with anti-personnel mines, during a localized ceasefire linked to a humanitarian aid mission to Oleshky, in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t