Melania Trump brokers short-term pause in fighting around Oleshky

Up to 2,000 residents remain stranded in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, where supplies of food and medicine are running low. A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday to facilitate a humanitarian mission into the area.

The pause in fighting, brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, is scheduled to last through Saturday or potentially longer. According to her office, Trump led discussions with civilian negotiators from both nations after receiving briefings from United Nations officials on conditions in the town. Both Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, along with their respective militaries, confirmed the start of the truce in separate statements.

The U.N. reports that residents cannot leave Oleshky due to explosive mines and ongoing drone attacks. Negotiators involved in the mission stated that medical teams, medicines, food, and water will be delivered to the town before evacuation corridors are opened. This local agreement is set against the backdrop of a new round of U.S.-brokered talks expected next month, aimed at ending a war that has lasted more than four and a half years.

While the ceasefire holds in the south, missile attacks resumed in the capital. Minutes after 3 a.m. on Tuesday, multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, triggering air alerts across multiple parts of the country. City officials said that late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and injuring 10.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities reported that attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the strikes in an online post, writing that it is important for the world to see Russia's desire to continue waging war.

Oleshky is located in the partially occupied Kherson region, approximately 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. The town sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson. Russian forces captured Oleshky on the first day of their full-scale invasion in 2022. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the town following a dam collapse. Previous attempts to establish ceasefires have been thwarted by deep mistrust between the two sides.

The Dnipro River serves as a frontline dividing Russian and Ukrainian forces in the region. Russian forces initially seized the administrative capital of Kherson in early 2022 but retreated across the river several months later. The current humanitarian effort aims to reach the isolated population before the localized truce expires.