Ukraine's military has accused Russia of using a brief ceasefire in southern Ukraine, brokered by first lady Melania Trump, to deliver more ammunition and strengthen its positions around the devastated city of Oleshky, despite Moscow and Kyiv hailing the six-day pause in fighting as a success. The truce, which began on Tuesday and ended late on Sunday, was engineered to deliver much-needed aid and evacuate many of the roughly 2,000 residents—including an estimated 50 children—who spent months trapped in Oleshky, a Russian-controlled settlement in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. International aid groups and officials had warned that Oleshky's population, which had shrunk to around a twelfth of its pre-war size, was unable to access food, medicine, clean water and basic hygiene supplies, with the city's inhabitants resorting to eating weeds and grass to survive.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine reported violations of the localized ceasefire, while the first lady said operations had been a "success" and close to 800 people had been evacuated. Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner, said mines were cleared from the roads into the city before a convoy of aid arrived in Oleshky on Friday. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, said he was working with Lantratova to "explore opportunities for further humanitarian initiatives." But Ukraine's military said on Monday, just hours after the ceasefire expired, Russia had used the humanitarian pause to rotate in fresh troops, shore up its military positions, and put more anti-drone defenses on the roads around Oleshky.
Russian forces also sent more ammunition to the area, Kyiv said, but did not specify further. Newsweek could not independently verify this information and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. Russia and Ukraine had accused one another of causing a humanitarian catastrophe in Oleshky.
Ukrainian officials said Russia repeatedly rejected proposals for a temporary ceasefire and land corridor to evacuate civilians in recent months and accused Moscow of shooting down drones ferrying aid to desperate residents. A Ukrainian official in Oleshky said Russian soldiers had stolen aid packages, that made it through to the city, from Ukrainian residents. Russia claimed Ukraine repeatedly attacked Oleshky and blockaded the city.
Under international humanitarian law, a power occupying a city or an area is responsible for providing essential supplies and services to the civilians still living there. The city has been held by Russia since Moscow's invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. It sits across the Dnipro River from the regional capital in Kherson, which Ukraine retook from Russia later that year.
Kherson is one of four mainland Ukrainian regions Russia has claimed to have annexed, although it doesn't fully control the territories. Recent aerial images of Oleshky showed anti-drone nets stretching across the city's streets and hollowed-out, blackened homes next to piles of rubble. The oldest evacuee was 94 years old, and the youngest was little over one year, Lubinets said.
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