A localised ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky went into effect early on Tuesday, The local pause in fighting started at 3 am to allow an aid mission into Oleshky in southern Ukraine later this week. According to her office, Melania Trump led talks with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with UN officials who briefed her on the situation in the town. The aid mission is planned ahead of a new round of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine expected next month aimed at ending the war after more than 4½ years of fighting.
Up to 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky with dwindling food and medicine. They are unable to leave because of explosive mines and drone attacks in the area, according to the UN. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators as well as the militaries of the two countries confirmed in separate statements that the ceasefire had begun.
Announcing last Friday that she had brokered the ceasefire, Melania Trump said civilian officials from both Russia and Ukraine would visit residents in their homes and "determine the level of assistance they require". "Residents who wish to evacuate will receive coordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination. I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine," she said.
Newsmax, a right-wing US cable network, has said it had been granted "exclusive television access" to accompany observers entering the city on Thursday. Minutes after 3 am, multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded in multiple parts of the country. A Russian strike damaged a major bridge spanning the Dnipro River in Kyiv, the city's mayor said.
"A strike hit the Southern Bridge. Metro infrastructure on the bridge was also damaged," Mayor Vitaly Klitschko wrote on Telegram, with city officials adding that train services across the bridge had been suspended. Late Monday, the capital also came under attack, when Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and leaving 10 injured, city officials said.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four.
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