2,000 Trapped as Trump-Brokered Truce Starts

Up to 2,000 people remain stranded in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky as food and medicine supplies dwindle, according to the United Nations. The pause in fighting began at 3 a.m. Tuesday to facilitate a humanitarian mission brokered by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump.

Melania Trump’s office said she led discussions with civilian negotiators from both nations after receiving a briefing from U.N. officials. The aid effort is scheduled to conclude before a new round of U.S.-brokered talks expected next month. Those talks aim to end a war that has lasted more than four and a half years.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators confirmed in separate statements that the local truce had taken effect. The agreement is set to last through Saturday, though it could be extended. Deep mistrust between the two sides has previously undermined attempts to stop fighting in specific areas.

The start of the ceasefire coincided with renewed attacks on other parts of Ukraine. Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missiles struck Kyiv, triggering air alerts across the country. Late Monday, Russian missiles damaged the grounds of a university in the capital, killing one person and injuring 10, according to city officials.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities reported that attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted online shortly after the Kyiv strikes, stating that Russia was showing a desire to kill and continue waging war.

Oleshky is located in the partially occupied Kherson region, approximately 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. Russian forces captured the town on the first day of their full-scale invasion in 2022. In June 2023, floodwaters from a dam collapse inundated the area. The town sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson.

Negotiators involved in the mission said doctors, medicines, food, and water will be transported to Oleshky before evacuation corridors are opened.