Five days of silence: Kherson residents walk streets clear of drones

A ceasefire that lasted from October 27 to November 1 brought a rare pause to the aerial bombardment in Kherson, Ukraine. The truce, negotiated by First Lady Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV, covered a section of southern Ukraine. For five days, residents stepped outside without the constant threat of Russian drones and guided bombs overhead.

The agreement was brokered to assist Oleshky, a town across the Dnipro River from Kherson. Russian forces occupied Oleshky in 2022 and mined the surrounding terrain, making the delivery of food and medicine difficult. Families in the town reported surviving on pickles and boiled weeds. During the pause, hundreds of residents were evacuated by bus to northern Ukraine. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman, credited Trump with ensuring the ceasefire held.

In Kherson, the change in atmosphere was immediate. Olena Soboleva and Anna Herasimenko, both 21, walked the streets to meet friends and visit shops. They passed families with children and couples holding hands. Soboleva noted the absence of explosions. Herasimenko visited a salon and painted her nails burgundy, observing that the streets were full of people as they had been in the past.

Svitlana Vorobiova, a retired police officer, drove from a safer city to see her parents and children. She photographed her son at the Greek-style monument marking the city’s gateway. Her son had not been in Kherson for four years. Vorobiova stated that her voice broke as she described the moment.

Volodymyr Mykolaienko, a former mayor of Kherson, used the time to visit his father’s grave. He had been held prisoner in Russia for years after his arrest in 2022 and was released in a prisoner exchange last year. Mykolaienko said he could finally pray at the cemetery, a location usually filled with drones.

Olena Yehorova, an oncology nurse, watched an accordion player at a busy bus stop. She described the truce as a relief, noting that people could breathe. She added that residents still walked with caution and expected new attacks to resume at any time.

The truce ended Sunday night. Russian troops had occupied Kherson for several months in 2022 before local partisans helped Ukrainian forces push them out. Since 2024, Russian units across the river have used first-person-view drones to hunt residents. Heavy mesh nets now cover the city’s streets and buildings to block these aerial threats.