Oleshky truce runs out as Kyiv says Russia refused an extension; Ukraine reports new blackouts after Russian strikes
The war's longest local truce was due to end on Sunday night. Kyiv says Russia rejected an extension as officials warn of renewed attacks on Kherson region.
At a glance
- The truce around Russian-occupied Oleshky, the longest local pause of the war, was scheduled to end late on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with no extension announced.
- A Ukrainian official said Kyiv offered more time but that 'the Russians don't want to'.
- Both sides reported no violations of the truce, but a Ukrainian officer says Russia used it to bring in troops and ammunition.
- Kherson's governor told residents to respond immediately to attack warnings, and Ukraine reported fresh power cuts nationwide after Russian strikes.
The longest local ceasefire of the Russia-Ukraine war was due to expire late on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with no extension announced. A Ukrainian official said Kyiv's foreign ministry had offered to prolong the pause around the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, but that "the Russians don't want to."
The truce began early on Tuesday and allowed a joint aid and evacuation mission into a city that had been largely cut off. Elsewhere the war did not pause: Ukraine's energy ministry reported new power cuts across the country on Sunday, including in Kyiv, after Russian strikes on energy sites.
What six days of quiet achieved
Neither side reported violations of the truce, and a Ukrainian lawmaker described it as the biggest de-escalation since 2022. Its purpose was narrow but concrete.
| Oleshky truce | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | Early Tuesday, October 27, 2026 |
| Scheduled end | Late Sunday, November 1, 2026 |
| Area covered | Oleshky and the Kherson front |
| Mediation | The White House credits First Lady Melania Trump; Pope Leo XIV also pressed both sides |
| Convoy | 25 buses plus ambulances and aid, assembled in Armiansk |
| People left in the city beforehand | About 2,000, according to authorities and volunteers |
| Deaths during route clearance | 2, killed during demining |
Russia and Ukraine issued identical statements promising that anyone who wished to leave could do so safely, and that those who stayed would receive aid. The convoy entered on Friday, and evacuees began reuniting with relatives on Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday. No final count of those who left has been published.
The operation was not free of dispute. Ksenia Arkhipova, a volunteer who used to live in Oleshky, said Russian soldiers were checking empty houses and moving into some of them, and that residents were being pressured to go to Russia instead of Ukraine.
Kherson told to brace for what comes next
The worry on the Ukrainian side is what the pause was used for. A Ukrainian military officer, speaking anonymously, said Russian forces across the Dnipro had taken advantage of the calm to bring in troops, move ammunition and gather intelligence on Ukrainian positions with surveillance drones. He feared fighting could be "worse than before". Those claims have not been independently confirmed.
Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to be especially careful once the truce ended, and to respond at once to warnings of attacks.
For civilians in Kherson, who live within range of Russian artillery and short-range drones across the river, the past week was a rare break. One resident, a 38-year-old gardener, spent it pruning rose bushes for winter and called the truce a "breath of fresh air".
Strikes continued everywhere else
The contrast with the rest of the front line was stark throughout the week.
- Ukraine's energy system: the energy ministry reported outages across the country on Sunday, including the capital, following Russian strikes.
- Russian oil sites: Russia said a drone hit an "industrial enterprise" east of Moscow overnight, and Ukrainian media reported the target was the Kstovo oil refinery, one of Russia's largest.
- Occupied territory: Russian-installed authorities said Ukrainian strikes killed five people between late Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Both countries deny targeting civilians.
The refinery strikes also carry a diplomatic cost. President Donald Trump has been pressing Kyiv to stop such attacks, blaming them for rising diesel prices, while analysts mainly attribute the increase to the Iran war. Kyiv defends the strikes as fair retaliation for Russian attacks on its own power grid, an argument it is likely to repeat as winter approaches and blackouts spread.
Whether the truce leaves anything behind
Pope Leo said he hoped the pause would strengthen the desire for dialogue and lead to new peace initiatives. So far there is no sign of that: no wider talks have been announced, and Russia still occupies about a fifth of Ukraine.
The first test comes on Monday, when Kherson's authorities and Ukrainian forces will report whether shelling across the Dnipro has resumed, and whether any residents still hoping to leave Oleshky have a way out.
Questions people are asking
Where is Oleshky?
Oleshky is a Russian-occupied city on the left bank of the Dnipro river in Ukraine's Kherson region, across from Ukrainian-held Kherson city. About 2,000 people were believed to remain there before the humanitarian mission.
Who brokered the Oleshky ceasefire?
The White House says First Lady Melania Trump brokered it. Pope Leo XIV also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to help the city, and Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets led negotiations on the Ukrainian side.
