Ukrainian civilians in the southern city of Kherson are bracing for an onslaught of renewed bombardment following the quiet expiration of an unprecedented six-day localised truce with Russian forces.
The temporary cessation of hostilities, which concluded on Tuesday, offered the beleaguered regional capital its longest stretch of peace since Moscow's forces withdrew to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in late 2022. While military operations continued unabated across eastern sectors of the front line, monitoring groups and regional officials confirmed that not a single shell or drone fell on Kherson during the pause.
Six days of fragile silence on the Dnipro
Al Jazeera reported that neither Kyiv nor Moscow formally announced the terms or origins of the armistice, leaving residents bewildered yet profoundly relieved by the sudden halt to artillery salvos. For nearly a week, municipal workers cleared debris from streets and engineers conducted vital repairs on battered power infrastructure without the omnipresent threat of loitering munitions.
However, that fragile calm is now unravelling. Military observers warn that the cessation was tactical rather than diplomatic, permitting both sides to rotate frontline units and resupply fortified observation posts along the river delta. Artillery crews on the Russian-controlled eastern bank have reportedly returned to firing positions, pointing their barrels back across the freezing waterways.
Unbroken violence across the wider front
The localised quiet in Kherson stood in sharp contrast to the brutal battles raging across Donetsk and Kharkiv. Even as the guns fell silent in the south, the Ukrainian General Staff reported relentless Russian glide-bomb sorties and wave assaults aimed at cutting off supply corridors in the Donbas.
Moscow, meanwhile, continued to endure reciprocal Ukrainian drone strikes targeting refinery installations and energy hubs deep inside Russian territory. The selective nature of the Kherson truce underlined its tactical anomaly; both belligerents demonstrated that high-intensity warfare remains the default posture across the 1,000-kilometre contact line.
Civilian despair as winter hostilities resume
For the remaining civilian population—principally the elderly and vulnerable who could not evacuate—the resumption of hostilities delivers a cruel psychological blow. Kherson has endured near-daily artillery barrages since its liberation 18 months ago, turning the port city into a shattered landscape of barricades and boarded-up shopfronts.
Aid agencies operating in southern Ukraine have mobilised emergency provisions, anticipating a fresh wave of civilian casualties and further damage to district heating systems as temperatures plunge below freezing. The fleeting silence along the Dnipro proved to be an ephemeral aberration, leaving Kherson once again under the shadow of heavy artillery.
