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A small city in southern Ukraine, cut off for months by fighting, has got a brief pause in the nearly 5-year-old war so that aid can get in and residents can get out.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump brokered the localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine around Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city that she said is “on the brink of disaster.”
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A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. Tuesday to allow medicine, food and water to be taken to Oleshky before evacuation corridors are opened later in the week. The situation in Oleshky is desperate, with food and medical supplies running perilously low for the up to 2,000 people still there, as drones and land mines restrict movement.
Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. negotiators reached the deal Friday. Officials on all sides have confirmed it, but many details haven’t been released.
Melania Trump voices hope for the Oleshky mission success
The first lady on Saturday voiced hope for the success of the humanitarian mission and hailed the importance of Pope Leo XIV’s support for the effort.
“It is great to have (the) pope’s support,” she said. “I hope everything goes as it’s planned.”
Leo spoke earlier this month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging them to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians.
Asked if she had spoken with Zelenskyy or Putin, the first lady and U.S. President Donald Trump said both.
“I think she’s doing better than the professionals right now,” the president said.
Asked if she would visit Ukraine, Melania Trump responded: “We will see.”
Oleshky has been without power, heat or water
Oleshky is located in Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region. It sits on the Dnipro River, which separates Ukrainian forces from the city’s Russian occupiers. Moscow’s forces captured it on the first day of the full-scale invasion, which started on Feb. 24, 2022. Its buildings were shelled and burned.
In June 2023, floodwaters swamped the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed in an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military. Hundreds of residents were killed.
Once home to about 24,000 people, the city has had scarce food and medical supplies for months. There is no electricity, heat or running water. Roads out of town are mined and lined with burned-out cars, and drones buzz overhead. With another harsh winter approaching, those still there face death from hunger or disease.
Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the humanitarian crisis.
Ukraine has repeatedly appealed for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. As the occupying power, Russia is obligated under international law to make sure civilians under its control have what they need to survive.
Ceasefire, aid and then evacuations
The deal sets out three stages: a ceasefire, followed by delivery of humanitarian aid and finally the evacuation of civilians who want to leave Oleshky, according to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman and its chief negotiator in the talks.
Before any aid moves, mines will be cleared on the routes into the city, Lubinets said. He told the AP that the ceasefire will last several days and apply across the Kherson region and neighboring areas essential to the operation.
Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said that Russian forces would carry out “engineering reconnaissance” and ensure that the “humanitarian convoy” can move safely into the city.
Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Yana Lantratova, who took part in the negotiations, said firstly that they plan to establish what residents need and then deliver food, medicine, hygiene products and other essentials. She said anyone who wants to leave the combat zone will be guaranteed safe passage.
Key details haven’t been released
Lubinets gave no details on how the ceasefire or the aid mission would be monitored or carried out, citing the sensitivity of the negotiations. He declined to say whether Melania Trump would travel to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that people who want to leave Oleshky will be able to. He wouldn’t say whether they would be taken to Russia- or Ukraine-held territory. Asked how long the evacuation would last, he said only that it would most likely take several days.
“The operation will be carried out gradually and is extremely challenging to implement,” Lubinets said.
The first lady took up the issue at the U.N.
Melania Trump began talks on Oleshky after she heard about the situation at one of her events during the U.N. General Assembly session in September, the White House said. She and a representative then worked directly with leaders from Russia and Ukraine to set the terms. She had already been working with officials from both countries on a separate matter.
“When Melania Trump learned about the situation in Oleshky, the negotiation process began under her coordination,” Lubinets said. He said that the sides spent several weeks discussing ideas and developing “new approaches, mechanisms and tools” to help civilians there survive.
Helping children in conflict zones has become one of her signature issues during her husband’s second term. She hosted a U.N. Security Council meeting on the issue earlier this year. Last year, she wrote to Putin about efforts to reunite families with children she described as “ displaced by the war.” Her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, says that she has helped reunite nearly three dozen children.
Zelenskyy has lobbied various world leaders for help reuniting children that he says were taken by Russia after the invasion began in 2022. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes in 2023, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Tensions between Washington and Kyiv are rising
The localized ceasefire comes as tensions have increased to new highs between the Trump administration and Ukraine’s government. Kyiv has faced restrictions on the satellite internet system it relies on to knock down Russian attacks, with the U.S. president and other top American officials sending mixed messages about who was responsible for decreasing the speed of the Elon Musk-made Starshield system.
Donald Trump also recently waived new Russia sanctions, reached an agreement with Russia to import diesel fuel and pushed Zelenskyy to make a deal to end the war. In renewed efforts to revive the peace process, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Norway last week for talks with Zelenskyy before meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Zelenskyy has emphasized the importance of the United States to renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war, including a possible joint meeting with Trump and Putin.
