Local Truce Starts in Kherson Region for Oleshky Aid Mission

The war in Ukraine has entered its fifth year with a temporary pause in southern combat zones. A localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect at 3 a.m. Tuesday to facilitate a humanitarian mission into the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky.

The town sits in the Kherson region, roughly 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson. Moscow forces captured Oleshky on the first day of their full-scale invasion in 2022. In June 2023, a dam collapse sent floodwaters through the town, compounding the damage. Currently, up to 2,000 people remain stranded there with limited food and medicine. United Nations officials state that explosive mines and drone attacks prevent residents from leaving.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump led negotiations with civilian representatives from both countries. Her office said she met with U.N. officials who briefed her on conditions in Oleshky before the talks began. Both Russian and Ukrainian negotiators confirmed the start of the truce in separate statements. Their militaries also issued confirmations. The pause is scheduled to last through Saturday, though deep mistrust between the two sides has undermined previous attempts at similar agreements.

The aid mission will deliver doctors, medicines, food, and water to the town. Negotiators involved in the operation said evacuation corridors will open after the supplies arrive. This effort precedes a new round of U.S.-brokered talks expected next month. Those discussions aim to end the conflict after more than four and a half years of fighting.

Fighting continued in other parts of Ukraine as the local truce began. Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, triggering air alerts across the country. Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in the capital. City officials reported one death and 10 injuries. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly after the Kyiv strikes. He wrote that the world needs to see Russia’s desire to kill and continue the war. The Dnipro River still separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Kherson region. Russian troops seized the city of Kherson during the early stages of the 2022 invasion but retreated across the river several months later. Oleshky remains under Russian control, with the population relying on the upcoming aid run for essential supplies.