Russia rains missiles on Ukraine hours after Kherson truce expires

The guns went quiet in Kherson, then the sky lit up everywhere else. Hours after a rare local ceasefire expired Sunday, Russia hammered Ukraine with strikes that killed dozens, per France 24, hitting a village in Zaporizhzhia where the acting regional governor, Mykhailo Semikin, said at least 26 people died. Two rescue workers and four police officers were among the dead.

By Tuesday, Zaporizhzhia authorities put the toll at 29. Ivan Fedorov, who heads the region's military administration, accused Moscow of targeting people who had gathered for humanitarian aid, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike hit a school handing out that aid. He called it an opposite signal from the pause that had briefly raised hopes for peace, warning Russia is counting on more killings.

Kharkiv took its own hit: a medical facility was struck, 25 people wounded and around 200 patients forced to evacuate, according to regional military administration head Oleg Synegubov. Officials said the blast damaged the building, its windows and cars. Ballistic missile alerts rippled toward Kyiv, Dnipro and Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk governor Oleksandr Ganzha reported strikes on critical infrastructure in Dnipro and in Zelensky's hometown, Kryvyi Rih.

Russia's defence ministry said it ran a massive strike on energy facilities across Ukraine and on port infrastructure in the Odesa region. In Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said nearly 500 drones bound for the capital region were destroyed. Neighbouring Poland activated air defences to guard its airspace, especially along the border.

The truce that started it all was the longest of the war, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, and it let people evacuate Russian-occupied Oleshky into Ukrainian-held territory and annexed Crimea. Ukraine's military says Russia used the pause to fortify its positions, a claim the Kremlin didn't deny. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it completely normal practice and said no further missions are planned right now, per France 24.

Diplomacy isn't dead. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington-led talks between Russia and Ukraine resume next week, though President Donald Trump's push for a settlement has produced no breakthrough. Meanwhile, Britain and France announced around 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will drill in Poland this month as a new multinational force, one with no offensive mission and no deployment until a ceasefire is agreed.