Oleshky Truce Set for Oct. 29 After Six-Day Wait
Aid is delayed until the 29th, leaving 1,700 residents in a flooded city without immediate relief.
By Tunde Bailey ·
Residents of Oleshky will wait until October 29 for the start of a humanitarian ceasefire, according to a White House announcement on Friday. The delay means that between 1,700 and 2,000 people in the Russian-occupied city will go another six days without the designated safe passage for aid and evacuation. The city sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson and is currently home to about 50 children.
The White House credited First Lady Melania Trump with securing the terms of the localized truce. In a written statement, she described the situation as dire, noting that the remaining population consists largely of elderly individuals who need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water. Her representative worked directly with leaders in Moscow and Kyiv to finalize the agreement.
Under the deal, non-military teams from both countries will enter the city to visit residents in their homes. These teams will help arrange transport for civilians who wish to leave for either Russia or Ukraine. The White House stated that approximately 90 percent of the city was flooded following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. Before the war, the population was roughly 24,000.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia confirmed on Telegram that the humanitarian operation will begin once the ceasefire takes hold. He noted that the accord resulted from a long process involving both Melania Trump and Pope Leo. The agreement creates a corridor for people to exit and for assistance to enter the besieged area.
The Kremlin said the evacuation process would take at least a few days. Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov announced that Russian forces will stop firing from 4 a.m. local time on October 27 to support the operation. The Kremlin praised the role of the First Lady and said work was already under way to ease conditions in Oleshky after President Vladimir Putin told Pope Leo he was ready to co-operate on the issue. The two leaders reportedly spoke by telephone last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said technical-level talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States will be held in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. He told the Hudson Institute that he had spoken with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff following their meeting with Putin earlier in the week. Zelenskyy stated that any peace deal would require strong security guarantees and 10 years of funding for Ukraine's army.
The announcements come amid two weeks of criticism from European allies and members of both U.S. political parties regarding the administration's handling of the war. President Donald Trump struck a deal with Putin to import diesel and previously announced a ceasefire on energy attacks, though Russia showed no sign of halting its fire. On October 14, Zelenskyy said SpaceX had restricted Starlink service, a move Ukrainian officials say hampers strikes and drone defense.
Fighting continued on Friday. Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport briefly suspended operations due to a Ukrainian drone threat. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses downed 21 drones headed for the capital over two hours. The two sides also exchanged 270 prisoners each. Ukraine's acting prosecutor general, Anton Kovalskyi, said more than 19,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 762 children, have been killed since the full-scale invasion began.
