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Russian strikes hit energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions overnight from Saturday into Sunday, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The humanitarian ceasefire in the Kherson region, which has allowed civilians to evacuate the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, is due to end on Sunday night.
The localised truce on the front line has held since it was introduced last week, although fighting has continued elsewhere, according to the BBC.
A separate overnight strike killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Vinnytsia region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Ukraine also struck a major missile fuel producer in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire and damaging four production facilities, Zelensky said.
Repair work to restore electricity continued throughout Sunday. Most customers in the Dnipropetrovsk region had their power restored by early evening, but more than 60,000 people were still without electricity, the governor said.
Emergency power cuts have been introduced across Ukraine because of repeated attacks on energy infrastructure. In Kyiv, electricity is cut for most of the day, while water supplies have also been disrupted.
Zelensky said in a social media post that Russian strikes had been “extremely high” in intensity over the past week. He added that Russia was “trying to take maximum advantage of the shortage of ballistic missile interceptors”.
Ukraine communicates its need for “Patriot” missiles to the United States, Europe and other partners “every day”, Zelensky said. He described them as the only effective weapon for downing Russia’s deadly ballistic missiles, thanked countries for their support and longer-term commitments, and called for more immediate aid.
The localised ceasefire in the Kherson region was due to end at 22:59 Ukrainian time (21:00 GMT) on Sunday. The limited pause in hostilities began on Tuesday and was brokered with the help of US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV.
The truce initially covered Oleshky, which has been occupied by Russia since the first days of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was later extended across the wider Kherson region.
Oleshky is bordered by the Dnipro River on one side and Russian forces on the other. Exit routes were mined and subject to drone attacks, while residents trapped in the city faced shortages of food, water and electricity.
The ceasefire allowed Oleshky residents to evacuate if they wished. On Saturday, Ukrainians who had been trapped in the city were reunited with loved ones they had not seen for years.
Ukrainian military positions are just 5km (3.1 miles) from Oleshky. Evacuees had to travel through Russian-occupied territory to southern Russia, fly to Belarus and then be driven across Ukraine’s northern border.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said the oldest evacuee was 94 and the youngest was one.
