Up to 2,000 people are stranded as food and medicine dwindle
A localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect at 3 a.m. Tuesday in southern Ukraine, pausing fighting to allow a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. The arrangement, brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, was due to last through Saturday, or longer.
Up to 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky with dwindling food and medicine, the U.N. said. The U.N. said explosive mines and drone attacks in the area have prevented them from leaving.
Negotiators involved in the mission said doctors, medicines, food supplies and water would be taken to Oleshky before evacuation corridors opened. The mission is planned for later in the week.
Melania Trump’s office said she led talks with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with U.N. officials who briefed her about conditions in the town.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and the militaries of both countries confirmed in separate statements that the ceasefire had begun. Deep mistrust between Russia and Ukraine has thwarted previous attempts at ceasefires, however.
Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded in multiple parts of Ukraine. Missile attacks resumed while the localized pause was in effect.
Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and leaving 10 injured, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities said attacks killed two people and injured four.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in an online post shortly afterward: “It is important that the world sees that Russia is showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war.”
Oleshky lies in the partially occupied Kherson region, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Kyiv, where the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces. The town sits across the river from Kherson, the region’s administrative capital.
Russian forces captured Oleshky on the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian forces had seized Kherson in the early stages of the invasion but retreated across the river several months later. Floodwaters then inundated Oleshky in June 2023 following a dam collapse.
The humanitarian mission is planned ahead of a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine expected next month. The talks are aimed at ending the war after more than 4½ years of fighting.