A planned six-day ceasefire in and around a Russia-occupied city in southern Ukraine held for its first day and night, officials said Thursday, but Moscow and Kyiv battered each other elsewhere as they awaited a date for the next round of US-brokered talks.
The localised truce in the devastated southern city of Oleshky began Wednesday and was due to last through Sunday as a humanitarian operation races to get urgently needed food and medicine to about 2000 remaining residents, as well as evacuate those who want to leave.
If the ceasefire holds, it will be the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour more than 4-and-a-half 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 unravelled amid deep mistrust.
A US representative will join the Oleshky mission, a Ukrainian official says
A representative from the United States will join civilian officials from Russia and Ukraine when they go into Oleshky, Ukraine's lead negotiator for the aid mission said.
"As soon as the road [into Oleshky] is de-mined and the humanitarian cargo is delivered there, representatives of three countries — Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian Federation — will be present on the spot," Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.
Evacuated residents will be free to choose between Ukraine and Russia as their destination, he said in an interview with Ukraine’s private 1+1 television.
Authorities will try to ensure that aid will keep flowing into Oleshky for anyone who wants to remain, he said.
Russia and Ukraine thank Melania Trump
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.
Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, 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 US first lady Melania Trump, and the White House said that she brokered the humanitarian mission.
Pope Leo XIV also spoke this month with Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky 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 US President Donald Trump’s approval as he pushes for an elusive peace settlement, thanked Melania Trump for her role.
US awaits Middle East events before setting date for Russia-Ukraine talks
The ceasefire coincided with US-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.
Talks between delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States that are expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in November haven't been scheduled yet, because Washington is awaiting developments in the Middle East, Zelenskyy told reporters in remarks released Wednesday.
Zelensky said during a visit to The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday that he hopes a date can be scheduled for the talks, possibly between November 6-10, after the November 3 midterm election.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, meanwhile, said that European representatives won’t be invited to the meeting. Western officials and analysts say Putin wants to cut out Europe and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington.
Zelensky said that the leaders of Finland and Norway, who spoke with Putin by phone on 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 summit-level talks.
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 all-out invasion began on February 24, 2022.
But since Putin’s summit with Trump in Alaska last year, Zelensky said, European governments have quietly resumed contacts with Moscow at the level of national security advisers and between intelligence agencies.
Zelensky sees US disengagement with Kyiv
The Iran war has depleted stocks of US-made Patriot air defence 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, Zelensky 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 US disengagement with Kyiv, Zelensky 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.
In contrast, Zelenskyy thanked the United Kingdom for announcing Wednesday an additional £10 billion (NZ$23.6 billion) in financial support for Ukraine — £7 billion (NZ$16.5 billion) in economic support over the next three years, and another £3 billion (NZ$7 billion) in British export support, primarily for the supply of weapons. The amounts come on top of Britain's current annual support, he said.
He said that UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is "on the right side of history". Zelensky said earlier this month that someone is pushing Trump into a stance that is "not the right side of history".
The war rages on elsewhere
A Russian drone strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight wounded five people, including a 4-year-old child, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The jet-powered drone attack started a major fire that set alight an apartment building, a private house and an industrial building, the emergency services said.
In Russia, meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 531 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday through early Wednesday.
Officials said that apartment buildings and industrial infrastructure in three regions were targeted, wounding eight people.
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