Localized Ceasefire Takes Hold in Southern Ukraine to Open Way for Aid Mission

A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect early Tuesday in southern Ukraine, clearing the way for a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. The pause began at 3 a.m. and was arranged through talks led by U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

According to her office, Trump held discussions with civilian negotiators from both Russia and Ukraine. Before that, she met with U.N. officials who briefed her on conditions in the town. The aid convoy is expected to enter Oleshky later this week.

The United Nations says as many as 2,000 people are stuck in Oleshky with food and medicine running low. Explosive mines and drone attacks in the area prevent them from leaving. Negotiators involved in the mission said doctors, medicines, food and water will be brought in first, with evacuation corridors to be opened afterward.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, along with the militaries of both countries, confirmed in separate statements that the ceasefire had begun. It is scheduled to last through Saturday, or possibly longer. Deep mistrust between the two sides has undermined earlier attempts at ceasefires, however.

Fighting elsewhere did not stop. Minutes after the 3 a.m. start, multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded in several parts of the country. Late Monday, Russian ballistic missiles had already struck the capital, damaging the grounds of a university, killing one person and injuring 10, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and wounded four.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded in an online post. "It is important that the world sees that Russia is showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war," he wrote.

Oleshky lies in the partially occupied Kherson region, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Kyiv. The Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces there. Moscow's troops captured the town on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022, and floodwaters from a dam collapse inundated it in June 2023.

The town sits across the river from Kherson, the regional capital. Russian forces seized Kherson early in the 2022 invasion but pulled back across the river several months later.

The aid mission comes ahead of a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine, expected next month, that aim to end a war now in its fifth year after more than 4½ years of fighting.