Local Ceasefire Takes Effect Around Russian-Occupied Oleshky as Aid Mission Is Readied
A local pause in fighting began early Tuesday around Oleshky in southern Ukraine, with both sides confirming it had started and an aid mission planned for later in the week, even as missile attacks continued in Kyiv.
A localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect early Tuesday around the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, ahead of a humanitarian mission planned for later in the week. The pause began at 3 a.m. local time, according to The Associated Press, and was confirmed in separate statements by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and by the two countries’ militaries.
The arrangement covers the Oleshky area only. It is due to last through Saturday, or longer, the Associated Press reported. The aid mission is planned ahead of a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine expected next month, talks aimed at ending a war now in its fifth year.
Negotiators involved in the aid mission said doctors, medicines, food supplies and water would be taken to Oleshky before evacuation corridors are opened, according to the Associated Press. The corridors would allow residents who want to leave to do so, after aid reaches the town.
Who brokered the pause and who confirmed it
According to her office, U.S. first lady Melania Trump led talks with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with U.N. officials who briefed her on the situation in the town, the Associated Press reported. The White House said last week that she had helped to secure the Oleshky ceasefire, Reuters reported.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Telegram that it stopped shelling in the direction of the Ukrainian city of Kherson from 4 a.m. Moscow time, or 0100 GMT, to prepare for the humanitarian operation, Reuters reported. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliament commissioner for human rights, confirmed in a Facebook post that the ceasefire had started at the same time. “As head of the Ukrainian negotiating team, I confirm that the Ukrainian side is honoring its commitments,” he wrote.
Up to 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky with dwindling food and medicine, according to the U.N., as reported by the Associated Press. They are unable to leave because of explosive mines and drone attacks in the area, the U.N. said.
Fighting continued elsewhere
Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded in multiple parts of the country, the Associated Press reported. A Reuters witness heard new explosions in Kyiv on Tuesday morning.
Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and injuring 10 others, city officials said, according to the Associated Press. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four.
Oleshky is in the partially occupied Kherson region, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Kyiv, where the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces, the Associated Press reported. Russian forces captured the town on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022, and floodwaters inundated the town in June 2023 after a dam collapse. The town sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson city. Russian forces seized Kherson in the early stages of the invasion and later retreated across the river.
Reporting based on coverage by The Associated Press and Reuters.
