A humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which has allowed residents of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky to evacuate, is expected to expire on Sunday night.
The limited truce, which began on Tuesday, was brokered with help from US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo. It was initially restricted to Oleshky but was later extended across the wider Kherson region.
The pause in fighting has enabled residents trapped in the city to leave after enduring severe shortages of food, water and electricity.
Residents had to travel through Russian-occupied territory into southern Russia before flying to Belarus and eventually crossing into Ukraine by road.
The ceasefire is due to end at 22:59 Ukrainian time (21:00 GMT) on Sunday. Although the local arrangement has held, fighting has continued elsewhere in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in four regions overnight on Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity.
Two people, including a 13-year-old girl, were also killed in an overnight strike in the Vinnytsia region, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Ukraine, meanwhile, struck a major missile fuel producer in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire and damaging four production facilities, Zelensky said.
Repair teams have been working to restore electricity, with most affected customers in the Dnipropetrovsk region reconnected by early evening. However, more than 60,000 people remained without power.
Ukraine has also introduced emergency power cuts after repeated attacks on energy facilities, affecting electricity and water supplies, including in the capital, Kyiv.
Zelensky described the intensity of Russian attacks over the past week as “extremely high” and urged Ukraine’s international partners to provide more air defence support, particularly Patriot missile systems.
He said Ukraine continued to communicate its urgent need for the missiles to the United States, European countries and other partners.
