Aid pause begins in Oleshky

A localized truce between Russia and Ukraine took effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday. The pause in fighting is designed to allow humanitarian aid to reach the town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine.

Melania Trump led the negotiations that secured the agreement. Her office stated she met with civilian negotiators from both nations after receiving briefings from U.N. officials on the situation in the town. The ceasefire is scheduled to last through Saturday, though it could be extended. Both Russian and Ukrainian military commanders confirmed the start of the truce in separate statements.

The mission aims to deliver doctors, medicines, food, and water to Oleshky. Negotiators said these supplies would arrive before evacuation corridors open for residents. Up to 2,000 people remain stranded in the town. The U.N. reports that dwindling food and medicine supplies, along with explosive mines and drone attacks, have prevented residents from leaving.

Oleshky is located in the Kherson region, approximately 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. Russian forces captured the town on the first day of the 2022 invasion. In June 2023, floodwaters from a collapsed dam inundated the area. The town sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson, the region's administrative capital. Russian troops took Kherson early in the war but withdrew across the river months later.

The aid effort precedes a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine. Those discussions are expected next month and aim to end the war after more than four and a half years of conflict. Deep mistrust between the two sides has hindered previous ceasefire attempts.

Missile attacks on the capital began minutes after the truce started in the south. Multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv, and air alerts sounded across the country. Late Monday, Russian missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and injuring 10. City officials also reported that attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killed two people and injured four.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media 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 next phase of the humanitarian plan involves opening evacuation routes once the initial supplies are delivered.