In the eight months since he was born in Ukraine’s frontline city of Kherson this year, Davyd has never been more than five minutes away from his home, kept inside by his parents because of relentless attacks by Russian glide bombs, missiles and drones.
Davyd got his first glimpse of a larger, safer world on Wednesday, when a local cease-fire announced by the first lady, Melania Trump, let his parents take him on his longest-ever walk. With Davyd bundled up in a Mickey Mouse hat and fleece panda pants, the family spent more than an hour strolling streets normally threatened by Russian artillery and drones, basking in the October sun without the usual fears that their child might at any moment be killed.
Davyd shook his rattle as the family strolled, eyes wide at his new surroundings.
“We wish it were like this all the time,” Davyd’s mother, Oleksandra, 27, said as they passed the bombed-out governor’s office on the city’s main street, covered in nets to catch Russian drones. Oleksandra, like many residents, spoke on condition she be identified only by her first name. She fears retribution against her parents, who still live under Russian occupation just across the Dnipro River.
The temporary cease-fire, set to last three days, began early Tuesday morning in Ukraine’s Kherson region to facilitate an evacuation of the nearby city of Oleshky. The some 2,000 people living in that city, which Russia seized in February 2022, are facing a starvation crisis. Their worsening plight garnered attention from Mrs. Trump, who helped arrange a rare agreement between Russia and Ukraine to hold fire in the area long enough to demine the road out and allow locals to evacuate. The Ukrainian civilians will then be able to choose if they stay in territory controlled by Russia or return to areas under Ukrainian control.
The Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson, which sits several miles across the river from Oleshky and is typically under near constant Russian attack, also went quiet this week. Russia seized Kherson in early 2022. Later that year Ukrainian forces pushed them across the river. Russia has never given up on retaking the city and launches many of its attacks on Kherson from Oleshky. But it has withheld fire on Kherson since the Oleshky truce began.
The sudden quiet has allowed for a remarkable respite in one of Ukraine’s most dangerous cities, where drones often hunt civilians in what Ukrainian officials call a “human safari.”
Civilians wandered Kherson’s streets with a sense of bewilderment and caution on Wednesday, still trying to wrap their heads around how Mrs. Trump, who has rarely commented on the war in Ukraine, managed to secure them a brief moment of peace.
Yurii Kryvyi, 61, a painter, walked to meet his friend Viktor and show him one of his latest works. When asked how they planned to mark the brief respite from drones, Mr. Kryvyi laughed. “Beer!” he shouted. “And cigars!”
