Fighting has resumed in Ukraine’s Kherson region after a six-day local humanitarian truce, the BBC reports. The pause allowed hundreds of people to be evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky and nearby settlements. On Monday 2 November, local authorities again reported Russian attacks, including shelling of a medical facility in central Kherson.
According to the authorities quoted by the BBC, the medical facility was shelled in the morning. They also reported that two people had been injured in a Russian drone attack on the car in which they were travelling.
The BBC describes the six-day pause as the longest truce since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was, however, a local humanitarian initiative rather than a nationwide ceasefire. Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine continued throughout the pause.
Evacuations and allegations over military activity
The pause’s most significant outcome was the evacuation of hundreds of residents from Oleshky and surrounding settlements. According to the BBC, Melania Trump helped mediate the truce, and both Kyiv and Moscow publicly thanked her. Details of her role in the mediation have not been disclosed.
Ukraine’s General Staff accused Russian forces of using the humanitarian pause to strengthen their positions, rotate units, deliver ammunition and expand anti-drone defences. These are allegations made by the Ukrainian side and reported by the BBC.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described regrouping during such pauses as standard practice. He also suggested that the Ukrainian army could have used the time in a similar way. His remarks do not, however, amount to detailed confirmation of all the activities alleged by Ukraine’s General Staff.
Calls for another humanitarian pause
The BBC reports that representatives from both sides overseeing the initiative called for it to be repeated. Peskov nevertheless said on Monday that there were no similar plans or initiatives.
The six-day truce therefore provided a temporary opportunity to evacuate civilians, but did not represent a wider agreement to halt the fighting. Renewed shelling in the Kherson region brought the local pause to an end, while the war elsewhere in Ukraine had continued throughout.
