Russian strikes leave thousands without power in Ukraine as Kherson truce ends

Russian strikes have cut power to thousands of homes in Ukraine as a rare humanitarian ceasefire in the Kherson region ended on Sunday night, the BBC reports.

The truce, which let civilians evacuate the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, ended at 22:59 Ukrainian time (21:00 GMT). It held for the week, though fighting continued elsewhere. US First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo helped broker it.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia struck energy infrastructure in four regions overnight on Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, more than 60,000 customers were still without electricity on Sunday evening, the governor said. Another strike killed two people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the Vinnytsia region, the State Emergency Service said.

Zelensky said Russia was “trying to take maximum advantage of the shortage of ballistic missile interceptors.” He urged allies to send more Patriot missiles. He also said Ukraine hit a missile fuel producer in Russia’s Rostov region.