Photo: Visem, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). File photo, not a photo of today's events.
Ukraine's General Staff said on Monday that Russian forces used last week's humanitarian ceasefire in the Russian-held southern town of Oleshky to strengthen their military positions, in the first official assessment of a truce that was meant only to let aid in and civilians out.
The six-day ceasefire, brokered through US First Lady Melania Trump and with the involvement of Pope Leo, was the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. It took effect on October 27 and expired at 9 p.m. GMT on Sunday. Nearly 800 people were evacuated from Oleshky, Melania Trump said on X.
What Ukraine says happened during the pause, however, has turned a humanitarian success into a fresh dispute — and a warning that the fighting around Kherson is about to intensify.
What Ukraine says Russia did
"The enemy, by contrast, used the humanitarian pause to improve its positions," Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on X, adding that Ukrainian units had observed the ceasefire and acted strictly within the agreements reached.
The General Staff said it had recorded rotations of Russian units, the fortification of positions, the expansion of anti-drone measures along roads, and increased logistics activity, including deliveries of ammunition.
Ukraine's 34th Separate Marine Brigade "Borysfen" echoed the charge in a video address, calling on residents of the Kherson region not to ignore air raid sirens and saying Russia had "used the ceasefire to prepare and strengthen its capabilities."
Sky News footage described by The New Voice of Ukraine reportedly showed Russian forces moving heavy armour, weapons, ammunition and personnel into Oleshky and neighbouring villages before, during and after the evacuation, and searching homes for cellars to establish new positions. That footage account is as reported by the outlets cited below; it has not been independently verified.
The Kremlin's reply — and the fighting since
The Kremlin pushed back on Monday without directly confirming or denying the Ukrainian account. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he assumed the Ukrainian army had also used the period to regroup, calling that "standard practice," but said he had no specific information on whether Russian forces had done the same.
Peskov also said no similar local ceasefires modelled on Oleshky were planned for now.
The exchange came as fighting around Kherson resumed. Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson City Military Administration, said there had been a drone strike on Monday in the centre of Kherson city, which lies on the west bank of the Dnipro River opposite Oleshky. No casualties were reported.
Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces had shelled and attacked with drones and aircraft 16 settlements in Ukrainian-controlled parts of the region in the 24 hours to 4 a.m. GMT on Monday.
What the ceasefire achieved — and what comes next
For all the recrimination, the humanitarian mission itself delivered results both sides can point to. Aid reached residents who had been stranded in the frontline town, and Ukrainians who wished to leave Oleshky were able to return to territory controlled by Ukraine.
But the dispute over what else happened during the pause matters for any future truce. If a ceasefire can be used to move troops and ammunition, the next offer of a humanitarian pause will be harder to trust — and harder to negotiate.
Ukraine's General Staff said there were reasons to expect an intensification of hostilities, and the brigade monitoring the area has warned residents to take air raid warnings seriously. For now, the confirmed facts are these: a six-day ceasefire allowed nearly 800 evacuations and then expired; Ukraine says Russia exploited it to reinforce; the Kremlin says Ukraine would have done the same. The underlying troop movements remain, for now, claimed rather than independently proven.
Sources: Reuters, November 2, 2026 (via The Straits Times); Ukrinform, November 2, 2026; The New Voice of Ukraine, November 2, 2026; Reuters, November 2, 2026 (Kremlin response). Ukraine's reinforcement claims and the Kremlin's response are as stated by each side and have not been independently verified; the Sky News footage account is as described by The New Voice of Ukraine.