The Ukrainian military evacuated 167 civilians from threatened areas of the southern Kherson region shortly before a local ceasefire was due to expire, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Sunday. Among those evacuated were 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility.
The six-day truce in and around the Russian-occupied city of Oleschky was set to end at midnight Moscow time, or 21:00 CET. The governor of the Kherson region urged residents to remain vigilant and warned strongly against entering areas near the Dnipro River, saying the intensity of Russian attacks there remained high.
The local ceasefire began on Tuesday and was observed by both warring parties, according to the report. It was the longest local interruption of fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The truce came after mediation efforts by US First Lady Melania Trump and with involvement from Pope Leo.
On Saturday, residents had already been brought from Oleschky into Ukraine. They first traveled by bus through the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, to the Russian city of Anapa, then flew to Belarus and continued onward to Ukraine. A spokesman for Moscow's presidential administration told Russian news agencies that the operation in Oleschky and coordination between the two countries' human rights commissioners were viewed positively.
Russian forces took control of the city on the Dnipro immediately after the February 2022 invasion. Ukrainian troops recaptured a large part of the region, including the regional capital Kherson, later that same year.
Fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday. Regional authorities reported at least two deaths in attacks in the Sumy region on the Russian border and in the central Vinnytsia region.
Sources: Der Spiegel.