Russia resumed attacks on Ukraine’s Kherson region on Monday after a local ceasefire ended on Sunday, according to Euronews. Kyiv said the truce was the longest in the war since 2022.
The pause had enabled a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky and allowed hundreds of stranded citizens to leave, according to Euronews. Euronews reports that the truce was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, began on a Tuesday and ended on Sunday. No second source in the available reporting confirms the Trump brokerage.
Local authorities said a drone attacked a car in Kherson’s Korabelny district at about 8:00 am on Monday, wounding a 62-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man, both of whom were hospitalised, according to Euronews. The sources do not provide independent confirmation of the attack details.
A senior Ukrainian figure told AFP that Russia refused a Ukrainian offer to extend the truce, according to Euronews. The official is not named in the reporting, and the Kremlin’s response to the offer has not been reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no similar local ceasefires modelled on the Oleshky arrangement were planned for now, according to the Straits Times. Peskov’s remarks were also reported by Reuters.
The truce has also drawn competing accounts about what Russian forces did during the pause. Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces used the ceasefire to rotate units, fortify positions, expand anti-drone measures and increase logistics, including ammunition deliveries, according to the Straits Times and Reuters. Ukraine’s military alleged Russia used the pause to "fortify its positions," according to Euronews. Those claims are not independently verified in the sources.
Peskov said he was not familiar with the specifics of Russian forces’ activities during the truce. He assumed Ukraine used the period to regroup, which he called standard practice, according to the Straits Times and Reuters.
The war, now in its fifth year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, according to Euronews. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected calls for a wider ceasefire and says it will press on to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, Euronews reports.
On the same day, Ukraine said its air raid alert system was compromised by fake radiation alerts. Russia said its emergency warnings app suffered a "massive cyberattack," according to Euronews.
US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to resume this month, according to Euronews. Peskov said no similar local ceasefires are planned for now.
Several gaps remain. The evacuation figures are given only as "hundreds," and the Ukrainian casualty figures come from local authorities. An NPR World item was available only as a headline and short excerpt, so its details could not be checked against a full article.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.