Melania Trump Secures Oleshky Truce; Missiles Strike Kyiv
A humanitarian pause began Tuesday to move supplies into the occupied town, while Russian ballistic missiles hit the capital and Kharkiv.
By Tyler Khalil ·
A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday to facilitate an aid mission into the occupied town of Oleshky.
The agreement followed meetings between U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and civilian negotiators from both sides. Her office stated she met with United Nations officials who briefed her on the conditions in the town. The pause in fighting is designed to allow medical staff and supplies to enter before evacuation routes open. The local truce is scheduled to remain in place through Saturday, though officials noted it could extend longer.
Oleshky, located in the Kherson region, has been under Russian control since the initial invasion in 2022. The town suffered severe flooding in June 2023 after a dam collapse. It now sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, which Russian forces occupied for several months during the early war before retreating. Approximately 2,000 residents remain trapped in the area. United Nations officials reported that dwindling food and medicine supplies, combined with land mines and drone strikes, have prevented these residents from leaving.
Negotiators for the humanitarian effort confirmed that doctors, medicines, food, and water will be delivered to the town. They aim to establish evacuation corridors after the initial supply drop. Russian and Ukrainian military leaderships issued separate statements verifying the start of the local ceasefire.
The truce coincided with renewed heavy attacks in other parts of Ukraine. Minutes after 3 a.m. Tuesday, multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, prompting air alerts across the country. City officials reported that Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in the capital late Monday. One person died and ten were injured in that strike. In Kharkiv, the second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly after the strikes. He wrote, "It is important that the world sees that Russia is showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war." The current humanitarian pause serves as a precursor to a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Those negotiations are expected to begin next month with the goal of ending the war after more than four and a half years of conflict.
