KHERSON, Ukraine — A planned six-day ceasefire in and around a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine held for its first day and night, officials said Wednesday, but Moscow and Kyiv continued to batter each other elsewhere.
The localized truce in the devastated southern city of Oleshky began Tuesday and is due to last through Sunday as a humanitarian operation races to get urgently needed food and medicine to about 2,000 remaining residents, as well as evacuate those who want to leave.
If the ceasefire holds, it will be the first time since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor more than 4 ½ years ago that the two sides have observed a significant truce. Previous attempts to stop the fighting have either failed to take hold or quickly unraveled amid deep mistrust.
Negotiators involved in the aid mission said doctors, medicines, food supplies and water would be sent to Oleshky before any evacuation corridors are opened.
Russia’s occupying forces impose strict limits on who can enter Oleshky, and there was no news on how the humanitarian operation was unfolding.
Russia’s ombudsperson Yana Lantratova and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsperson Dmytro Lubinets both said Wednesday there had been no ceasefire violations in Oleshky for 30 hours.
The plight of the city in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region caught the attention of U.S. first lady Melania Trump, and the White House said she brokered the humanitarian mission.
Pope Leo XIV also spoke this month with presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin of Russia, urging them to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians, the Vatican said.
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials, eager to win U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval as he pushes for an elusive peace settlement, thanked Melania Trump for her role.
The ceasefire coincided with U.S.-led plans to bring Moscow and Kyiv officials back to the table next month for technical talks on how to move forward on ending the war, even though neither side shows signs of backing down from their key demands.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, speaking in Helsinki on Wednesday, said Kyiv “will never accept any formula at the cost of our sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
Talks between delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States that are expected to take place in Abu Dhabi in November have not yet been scheduled because Washington is awaiting developments in the Middle East, Zelenskyy told reporters in remarks Tuesday that were embargoed until Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said the leaders of Finland and Norway, who spoke to Putin by phone Tuesday, told him that Russia is “serious” about discussing steps to de-escalate the war.
The Ukrainian president said these could include a pause in attacks targeting energy infrastructure and commercial sea traffic, further prisoner exchanges, and a discussion of formats for possible meetings at leaders’ level.
The call to the Kremlin by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb was surprising. European countries have sought to diplomatically isolate the Russian leader since the invasion.
But since Putin’s summit with Trump in Alaska last year, Zelenskyy noted, European governments have quietly resumed contacts with Moscow at the level of national security advisers and between intelligence agencies.
The Iran war has depleted stocks of U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems that Ukraine desperately needs to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Ukraine is now getting an average of 12 Patriot interceptor missiles per month this year — a sharp drop from delivery rates in previous years, Zelenskyy told reporters.
“Imagine this: you can count on getting 150 missiles a year from America, while you have to shoot down 150 ballistic missiles a month,” he said.
Patriot delivery delays appeared to be part of a trend of U.S. disengagement with Kyiv, Zelenskyy said, following disruptions in vital internet satellite links and intelligence sharing as well as a recent Trump administration agreement to purchase Russian diesel and waive sanctions.
A Russian drone strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight wounded five people, including a four-year-old child, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The jet-powered drone attack started a major fire that set alight an apartment building, private house and an industrial building, the emergency services said.
In Russia, meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 531 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday through early Wednesday.
Officials said apartment buildings and industrial infrastructure in three regions were targeted, wounding eight people.
___
Gatopoulos contributed from Kyiv, Ukraine
___
About the Author
