Civilians in Ukraine's Kherson region prepare for the end of a localized ceasefire KHERSON, Ukraine -- Civilians in Ukraine’s 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’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago. The White House said 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.
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 were not released after the evacuation.
At the Ukrainian border Saturday, family members waited for a glimpse of their loved ones, while the residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and flashlights to greet the humanitarian convoy. But Moscow and Kyiv have continued aerial strikes elsewhere, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Sunday that Russia continues to target Ukraine’s energy systems ahead of winter. In a post on social media, Zelenskyy said that hundreds of thousands of families had been left without power overnight as Moscow sought to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of air defenses.
Residents in the Ukrainian city of Kherson remained calm Sunday, despite knowing that the quiet of the localized ceasefire would soon end. The theater performs every Saturday and Sunday. This weekend’s 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.
But “we’ve been working on the front line for four years,” he added, referring to Kherson itself, and the theater has never canceled a performance. The company now performs in a basement and is equipping an additional bomb shelter. About 100 of the theater’s 120 staff members work in Kherson, and none has evacuated.
Costume maker Alla Vasylenko, 58, said the silence of the brief truce still frightens her. Everything will go back to how it was before the ceasefire, because believing the Russians means not believing yourself,” she said. She has no plans to leave.
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