Ceasefire Opens Route to Oleshky as Trump Office Broke Truce

A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect at 3 a.m. Tuesday to permit an aid mission into the occupied town of Oleshky.

The town was captured by Russian forces on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Floodwaters from a dam collapse inundated the area in June 2023. Oleshky sits in the Kherson region, approximately 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, across the Dnipro River from the regional administrative capital.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump led civilian negotiations with Russian and Ukrainian representatives after receiving briefings from United Nations officials. Her office stated that these talks secured the local pause in hostilities. The U.N. reported that up to 2,000 people remain stranded in Oleshky with limited food and medicine. Explosive mines and drone attacks have prevented residents from leaving the town.

The ceasefire is scheduled to last through Saturday, though it may be extended. Russian and Ukrainian militaries confirmed the start of the truce in separate statements. Negotiators indicated that doctors, medicines, food, and water would be delivered to the town before evacuation corridors open. The aid mission precedes a new round of U.S.-brokered talks expected next month to end the war, which has continued for more than four and a half years.

Missile attacks resumed in Kyiv minutes after the ceasefire began. Multiple ballistic missile explosions shook the capital, and air alerts sounded across the country. Russian ballistic missiles damaged a university grounds in Kyiv late Monday, killing one person and injuring 10, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, late Monday attacks killed two people and injured four.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly after the Kyiv strikes. He wrote that it is important for the world to see that Russia shows a desire to kill and continue waging war. Deep mistrust between the two nations has previously thwarted ceasefire attempts, but this local pause aims to deliver critical supplies before broader negotiations resume.