The White House said on Friday that First Lady Melania Trump had secured a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, to allow humanitarian aid in and civilians out of a town facing a deepening food crisis.
“Both nations agreed to temporarily stop all military action in Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway,” the White House said in a statement. The Kremlin confirmed the agreement on Friday, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov praising Melania Trump’s “significant contribution” and saying the evacuation operation was expected to take at least several days.
The two sides’ accounts differed on the start time: the White House initially said the truce would begin October 29, while Russian and Ukrainian statements later put the start at October 27, with Russian military chief Valery Gerasimov saying troops would halt fire from 4 a.m. local time.
A town trapped
Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since February 2022. Residents have reported severe shortages of food, water and electricity, with some reportedly reduced to surviving on weeds and meagre rations. The White House estimates only 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in the city, including about 50 children.
Talks ahead
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had agreed to technical-level meetings in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. A U.S. official said the next talks could come within a couple of weeks, in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland. Zelenskyy said he hoped a leaders’ meeting would follow.
The White House said the arrangement grew out of earlier efforts involving the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families. Calls for a humanitarian truce in Oleshky had also been issued in recent weeks by Pope Leo XIV, the United Nations and European officials. The ceasefire has not yet taken effect; whether it holds will depend on whether both sides honor it.
Sources: Reuters.
