Ukrainian military forces evacuated 167 people from threatened areas of the southern Kherson region on Sunday, concluding a tense weekend operation as a temporary local ceasefire neared its expiration. The departure came two days after dozens of residents were brought out of the Russian-held town of Oleshky in a rare humanitarian corridor established after mediation efforts by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and involvement from Pope Leo.
The six-day local ceasefire covered Oleshky and the surrounding area, marking the longest local pause in fighting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The agreement was scheduled to expire at midnight Moscow time, equivalent to 2100 GMT.
“Units of civil-military cooperation of the ‘South’ group of forces, in cooperation with representatives of local authorities, evacuated 167 civilians to safer points in the Kherson region,” Ukraine’s General Staff wrote on Telegram. The agency added that the group of evacuees included 22 children and 21 individuals with limited mobility who required specialized assistance.
As the ceasefire’s final hours ticked down, Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to remain vigilant and avoid returning to hazardous front-line zones. “I also strongly urge you not to visit the so-called ‘red zones’ – areas and settlements near the Dnipro,” Prokudin wrote on Telegram, warning that the intensity of Russian strikes in those sectors remained high alongside extreme threats to human life.
International figures who helped broker or support the pause weighed in as the deadline approached. Pope Leo expressed hope that the cooperative effort between Russia and Ukraine in implementing the Oleshky ceasefire could pave the way for broader peace initiatives. Writing on X, Melania Trump stated that the arrangement “has provided residents with the freedom to move, access to food, clean water, medicine, plus a renewed sense of dignity without the constant threat of attack.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that Moscow viewed the Oleshky evacuation operation positively, praising the coordination between the human rights commissioners of both countries.
The humanitarian corridor allowed exhausted and starved residents to cross into Ukrainian-controlled territory on Saturday after taking a circuitous route from the front-line sector. Oleshky lies just a few kilometers from the active line of contact on the Dnipro River, directly opposite the Ukrainian-held regional capital of Kherson. Russian forces seized control of Oleshky immediately following the February 2022 invasion, though Ukrainian troops subsequently recaptured much of the surrounding territory later that year.
According to Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova, residents wishing to leave Oleshky were initially transported out using 25 buses and nine ambulances that traveled first to the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula. From the Russian town of Anapa, evacuees flew to Belarus before continuing onward to Ukraine, while others chose different destinations within Russian-held territory. It remains unclear how many total residents elected to remain behind in Oleshky.
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed that the local ceasefire held without recorded violations since taking effect on Tuesday. The rare pause in hostilities enabled teams to de-mine local roadways and deliver critical shipments of food, medicines, and humanitarian supplies directly into the isolated town.
Even as the southern corridor wound down, military action continued across other regions of Ukraine on Sunday. Regional governors and emergency services reported at least one civilian death following a strike in the northeastern Sumy region along the Russian border, and another fatality in the central Vinnytsia region.
