Ceasefire Starts in Oleshky

A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday to facilitate a humanitarian mission into the town of Oleshky. The pause in fighting was brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump and is scheduled to last until Saturday.

Trump led negotiations with civilian representatives from both nations after receiving a briefing from U.N. officials regarding the conditions in the town. The aid convoy is set to depart later this week, carrying doctors, medicines, food, and water to the area before evacuation corridors are established.

The mission addresses a critical shortage of supplies for up to 2,000 people stranded in Oleshky. According to the U.N., residents are trapped by explosive mines and drone attacks. The town, located in the Kherson region about 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, has been under Russian control since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Oleshky suffered further damage in June 2023 when floodwaters inundated the settlement following a dam collapse. It sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, which Russian forces seized in early 2022 before retreating across the water several months later. The current truce is a precursor to a new round of U.S.-brokered talks expected next month, aimed at ending the war after more than four and a half years of conflict.

Both Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and their respective militaries confirmed the start of the ceasefire in separate statements. Deep mistrust between the two sides has previously undermined similar agreements. Minutes after 3 a.m., ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, triggering air alerts across multiple parts of the country.

Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and injuring ten, city officials reported. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly after the strikes, stating, "It is important that the world sees that Russia is showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war." The ceasefire remains in effect while preparations for the aid delivery continue.