Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) - Kiev reported on Monday that Russia had resumed its attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, after the end of a local truce that allowed the evacuation of residents of a city suffering from a humanitarian crisis.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 13:17

Several ceasefire agreements had previously been announced since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, especially on the occasion of Orthodox Easter, but the two countries exchanged accusations of violating them.

The truce began in the Kherson region on Tuesday and ended on Sunday evening without being disturbed by any violations, making it the longest in the war that has entered its fifth year between Russia and Ukraine.

However, the attacks have resumed since Monday morning, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The municipality said in a statement on the Telegram application, “At approximately eight o’clock this morning, the Russian occupiers attacked a car with a drone in the Korabelny neighborhood in the city of Kherson,” adding that a 62-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man were injured and taken to the hospital.

The head of the local military administration, Yaroslav Chanko, also wrote on Facebook that a Russian drone also attacked a “medical institution” in central Kherson, without causing any casualties.

Kherson is constantly subjected to strikes by drones belonging to the Russian army stationed on the other side of the Dnipro River, after it occupied the region for a short period at the beginning of the war.

The truce that took place in the region last week allowed the evacuation of a portion of the residents of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshki, located about ten kilometers southeast of Kherson, as they were suffering from a severe shortage of food and medicine due to the battles.

"New initiatives"

Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lobinets expressed on Sunday his satisfaction that “both parties adhered to their commitments during this period,” which “allowed the delivery of humanitarian aid to Oleshki, and assistance to civilians wishing to leave the city safely,” adding that he is currently working with his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantatova, on new “humanitarian initiatives.”

However, Moscow rejected a proposal from Kiev to extend this temporary truce, according to what a senior official in the Ukrainian presidency told Agence France-Presse.

Ukrainian officials interviewed by Agence France-Presse in Kherson expected a resumption of Russian attacks immediately after the end of the truce.

A Ukrainian officer in the region, who requested to remain anonymous, expressed fears that the fighting would be “hell, even worse than before” when it resumes. He noted that Russian forces stationed on the other bank of the Dnipro River took advantage of the calm that prevailed over the past few days to mobilize additional forces, transfer ammunition stocks, and collect intelligence information about Ukrainian sites using surveillance drones.

In response to a question on Monday about these accusations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “This is quite common in cases like this,” noting that “Ukrainian forces also took advantage of this period for a similar regrouping.”

During the truce in Oleshki, fighting and strikes continued non-stop on both sides of the front in other areas.

Hacking applications

Mobile phone applications used to warn residents of security risks in Ukraine and Russia were hacked shortly after the ceasefire ended on Sunday, according to the authorities of both countries.

The Ukrainian application, through which most residents receive warnings of Russian air raids by region, neighborhood, or town, reported false threats about nuclear and chemical radiation and “battles in the streets.”

As for Russia, the Ministry of Emergency Situations app, which is much less widely used, broadcast fake messages that indicated, for example, “nuclear warheads on their way to all regions of Russia.”

No party has claimed responsibility for these cyber attacks.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to resume this month in the United Arab Emirates, with American mediation, after they remained effectively frozen since the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in February.

Negotiations between the two parties in 2025 did not lead to any tangible progress, as each of them stuck to their positions, especially with regard to the lands claimed by Russia in Ukraine.

In late October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed in a press interview his rejection of a number of Russian demands, considering that the security guarantees demanded by his government from its Western allies, the size of the Ukrainian army, and Kiev’s freedom to choose its alliances are “non-negotiable” issues.

© 2026 AFP

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