In this undated image from video provided by Ukraine’s 34th Separate Marine Brigade “Borysfen” on September 22, 2026, smoke rises from a residential area in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
34th Ukrainian Separate Navy B/via AP
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34th Ukrainian Separate Navy B/via AP
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect Tuesday morning, the eve of a humanitarian mission hosted by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, as missile attacks resumed in kyiv.
The local break in fighting began at 3 a.m. to allow for an aid mission to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine later this week.
According to her office, Melania Trump held negotiations with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with UN officials who briefed her on the situation in the city.
The aid mission is planned on the eve of a new round of U.S.-brokered negotiations between Russia and Ukraine scheduled for next month aimed at ending the war after more than four and a half years of fighting.
Nearly 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky, with a shortage of food and medicine. They cannot leave due to explosive mines and drone attacks in the area, according to the UN.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and the two countries’ militaries confirmed in separate statements that the ceasefire had begun.
The local ceasefire is expected to last until Saturday or longer, although deep mistrust between Russia and Ukraine has thwarted previous ceasefire attempts.
A few minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions rocked kyiv and air alerts sounded in several regions of the country.
Rescue workers clear debris and damaged road infrastructure near a car destroyed following an overnight Russian strike in kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
Dan Bachakov/AP
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Dan Bachakov/AP
The capital also came under attack Monday evening when Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a kyiv university, killing one person and wounding 10, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities said attacks left two dead and four injured Monday evening.
“It is important for the world to understand that Russia shows nothing other than a desire to kill and continue to wage war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in an online message shortly after.
Oleshky is in the partially occupied Kherson region, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of kyiv, where the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces.
It was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Another calamity struck in June 2023 when floodwaters inundated the city due to a collapsed dam.
Oleshky is located across the Dnipro River, next to the city of Kherson, the administrative capital of the region. Russian forces seized Kherson at the start of the 2022 invasion, but withdrew across the river several months later.
Negotiators involved in the humanitarian mission said doctors, medicine, food and water would be transported to Oleshky before evacuation corridors opened.
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