Oleshky truce starts as missiles hit Kyiv

The war has continued for more than four and a half years, but a localized ceasefire began Tuesday morning in southern Ukraine.

The pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to facilitate a humanitarian mission into the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump brokered the arrangement after meeting with U.N. officials who briefed her on the local situation.

Her office stated that she led discussions with civilian negotiators from both Russia and Ukraine to secure the terms of the aid window.

The mission is scheduled to deliver doctors, medicines, food supplies, and water to the town before evacuation corridors open.

Up to 2,000 people remain stranded in Oleshky, a location in the Kherson region about 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.

The United Nations reported that residents face dwindling food and medicine supplies and cannot leave due to explosive mines and drone attacks.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, along with their respective militaries, confirmed in separate statements that the ceasefire had begun.

The local truce is set to last through Saturday, though it may be extended if conditions allow.

Deep mistrust between the two nations has complicated previous attempts to halt fighting in specific areas.

Minutes after the ceasefire took effect, multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, and air alerts sounded across several parts of the country.

Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles had already damaged the grounds of a university in the capital, killing one person and injuring ten, according to city officials. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, late Monday attacks killed two people and injured four, authorities said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly afterward, stating that Russia was showing a desire to kill and continue waging war. Oleshky was captured by Russian forces on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the town after a dam collapsed. The town sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson, the region’s administrative capital, which Russian forces seized early in the invasion but left months later. New U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine are expected next month to aim for a broader end to the conflict.