Oleshky Truce Set for October 29

The White House announced Friday that Russia and Ukraine agreed to a temporary ceasefire in the occupied city of Oleshky. The truce begins on Oct. 29, a date that creates a six-day gap before humanitarian aid can reach the population. Officials credited First Lady Melania Trump with securing the terms of the localized pause.

A statement from the White House detailed that both nations agreed to halt all military action in the city. This pause is intended to allow non-military teams to enter and prepare a civilian evacuation along a designated safe passage. The statement noted that Trump and her representative worked directly with leadership in Moscow and Kyiv to finalize the agreement.

Melania Trump described the situation in Oleshky as dire in the statement. She said the remaining population consists mostly of elderly people who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water. Under the deal, teams from both countries will visit residents in their homes to help arrange transport for anyone wishing to leave for either Russia or Ukraine.

Oleshky sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson. The White House reported that the city currently holds between 1,700 and 2,000 residents, including about 50 children. The population was roughly 24,000 before the war began. Approximately 90 per cent of the city is flooded following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.

Ukraine’s top negotiator, David Arakhamia, confirmed on Telegram that the humanitarian operation starts once the ceasefire takes hold. He stated the accord followed a long process involving Trump and Pope Leo. The Kremlin said an evacuation would take at least a few days. Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Russian forces will stop firing from 4 a.m. local time on Oct. 27 to support the operation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States agreed to hold technical-level talks in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. He told the Hudson Institute he spoke with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after their meeting with Vladimir Putin earlier in the week. Zelenskyy said any peace deal would require strong security guarantees and 10 years of funding for Ukraine’s army.

Fighting continued in other areas on Friday. Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport briefly suspended operations due to a Ukrainian drone threat. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences downed 21 drones heading for the capital over two hours. The two sides also exchanged 270 prisoners each. Anton Kovalskyi, Ukraine’s acting prosecutor general, said more than 19,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 762 children, have been killed since the full-scale invasion began.