For Ukraine's Kherson region, a short ceasefire meant a momentary return to normal life

KHERSON, Ukraine — In this city where Russian drones usually fill the skies, Olena Soboleva could not easily walk down the street to meet her best friend, Anna Herasimenko.

Then came last week's truce, negotiated by First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, in a corner of southern Ukraine that included Kherson.

This weekend, the two friends, both 21, took the opportunity to venture outside to autumnal skies clear of drones and guided bombs.

"No drones, no explosions," Soboleva says. "No one wants to kill you."

They passed families strolling with their kids, shoppers stocking up on supplies and couples holding hands. They lined up at a cafe filled with paintings of cats.

"The city seems alive," says Herasimenko, "just like it used to be."

Over the weekend, she had also ventured to a salon.

"I did my nails," she says, showing off fresh burgundy polish. "The streets are full of people, just as they were in the past."

The truce ended Sunday night. Russia and Ukraine agreed to it in order to help Oleshky, a town across the Dnipro River from Kherson. Russian troops occupied Oleshky in 2022 and mined the land around it. Food and medicine rarely got through. NPR spoke to the families of residents there, who said their loved ones survived on pickles and boiled weeds.

Over the weekend, hundreds of Oleshky residents were evacuated, eventually escorted into northern Ukraine on buses. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's ombudsman — the country's independent watchdog for human rights — thanked Melania Trump for ensuring that the ceasefire, which lasted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, happened.

"I believe they can be upheld and honored," Lubinets said about truces between Ukraine and Russia.

Even a short pause in hostilities was a respite for Kherson. Russian troops occupied the city for several months in 2022, until local partisans spied for Ukrainian soldiers, who then forced the Russians out of the city.

Since 2024, Russian troops based across the river have hunted Kherson residents with FPV (first-person-view) drones strapped with explosives. The highway into Kherson is shrouded in tunnels of heavy mesh nets to protect locals from these drones. These anti-drone nets also cover Kherson's streets and many of its buildings.

This weekend, cars pulled up next to the Greek-style monument marking the city's gateway.

Svitlana Vorobiova, a retired police officer, drove here from a safer city where she now lives. She took photos with her children at the monument.

"I have a place in Kherson, and my parents are also here," she says, and her voice breaks. Tears fill her eyes.

"I brought my son with me," Vorobiova says. "He hasn't been here in four years. He said, 'I cannot believe I'm in my hometown!'"

Inside the city, Volodymyr Mykolaienko, a former mayor of Kherson, strolls past the crushed remains of a once-grand administrative building. Locals stop him and shake his hand. He says he's happy to see so many people outside.

"I walk around the city a lot these days," he says. "I cannot sit still at home."

Mykolaienko, 66, spent years as a prisoner of war in Russia, confined to tiny rooms, starved and tortured. Russian troops arrested him in Kherson in early 2022, when the city was under Russian occupation. Mykolaienko was freed last year in a prisoner exchange and returned to Kherson, where his family still lives.

This truce allowed him to visit his father's grave. The cemetery is in a part of the city that's usually filled with drones.

"I could not hold myself back," he says. "I was able to do exactly what I have long wanted to do — to talk to my father, pray, thank him for my life and to tell him what was happening to our city."

At a busy bus stop, oncology nurse Olena Yehorova smiles at a gray-haired man playing folk music on his accordion.

"This truce has been such a relief," she says. "The people in our city have been able to breathe. Of course, we still walk around with caution, because you cannot trust the Russians."

She couldn't help looking up at the sky. A few hours later, the truce was over. She said she expects new attacks to resume at any time.