Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russia resumed strikes on the southern city of Kherson on Monday after the end of a local ceasefire in the area – the longest truce in the war raging between the neighbours since 2022 – Kyiv said.

A rare pause in fighting, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, ended Sunday after starting on Tuesday and neither side reporting violations.

The ceasefire enabled a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky and for hundreds of stranded citizens to leave.

It was the longest pause in fighting between the neighbours in the war, which is now in its fifth year and has killed hundreds of thousands as well as displaced millions.

The head of Kherson city administration, Yaroslav Shanko, said a Russian-launched drone hit a “medical facility” in the centre of the city Monday morning.

City authorities said another drone later hit the outskirts of Kherson, wounding a 62-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man.

Kherson’s regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin had warned local people to be particularly careful when the ceasefire ended.

A senior Ukrainian figure told AFP Sunday that Russia refused a Ukrainian offer to extend the truce.

Kyiv’s military also alleged that Moscow had used the pause in fighting to “fortify its positions”.

The Kremlin did not deny the accusations, with its spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters Monday: “This is a completely normal practice in such situations.”

He alleged the Ukrainian army had also used pauses in fighting in the past to regroup.

Moscow saw the Oleshky humanitarian mission as “successful”, Peskov added, praising the “good cooperation between all sides” and singling out the role of its human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.

Lantratova oversaw the ceasefire alongside her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets, with the pair visiting the city to deliver aid and arrange the evacuation of civilians – one of the most substantial instances of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation since the start of the war.

The mission saw people taken both to Ukraine-controlled territory and to Moscow-annexed Crimea.

The Kremlin said that no other similar missions were being planned “at the moment.”

US-led talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to resume this month.

President Donald Trump has pushed for a settlement to the dragging war but efforts have not yet led to a breakthrough and have been largely sidelined by the Iran conflict.

The talks – expected to be held in Abu Dhabi – come as Kyiv and its European allies worry Trump has increasingly sided with Moscow.

- Cyberattacks -

Both Russia and Ukraine said overnight that their emergency warnings apps were hacked in apparent cyberattacks that came after the truce had ended.

Ukraine said it suspected its air raid alert system had been compromised, after baseless alerts of a radiation threat were sent to millions.

The warning system, which provides information about incoming Russian drones and missiles, is instrumental in life in Ukraine during the war.

Russia has intensified its attacks this year, firing ballistic missiles and fast jet-powered drones, both of which are hard to intercept.

Moscow said that an app belonging to its emergency situations ministry that also warns of attacks had been hacked, too.

The app is not widely used in Russia, where warnings of Ukrainian drone attacks are not as common and typically sent by text message in border regions.