According to the White House, Russia and Ukraine have agreed a time-limited ceasefire in the city of Oleshky in Kherson region, which is occupied by Russian troops. The US President’s wife, Melania Trump, brokered it, the White House announced, as reported by the Kyiv Independent and Yevropeiska Pravda, among others, on Friday, 23 October. The local ceasefire is due to take effect on 29 October 2026, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency writes.
According to the White House account, both sides intend to temporarily halt all combat operations in Oleshky in order to bring humanitarian aid into the city and prepare the evacuation of the civilian population via a designated safe corridor. Melania Trump, in her “formal role as exclusive mediator”, initiated talks with both countries and coordinated the objectives of the agreement, technical procedures, the timetable and the conditions, the statement says.
“Without my intervention it would have been impossible”
The situation in Oleshky is “catastrophic”, the First Lady is quoted as saying in the statement. The city lies on the front line and stands “on the brink of a catastrophe”. The remaining population consists mainly of elderly people who urgently need medical help, medicines, food and clean water. “It was completely clear that without my intervention it would have been impossible to bring humanitarian aid into the city and evacuate the elderly people,” Melania Trump said, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to civilian, non-military representatives of both countries, they are to visit the residents in their homes together and determine the need for aid. Anyone who wishes to be evacuated will receive coordinated support and transport to the destination of their own choosing. “I assume that some will want to go to Russia and some to Ukraine,” the First Lady said. An independent American media organisation is to accompany and document the work of the Russian and Ukrainian teams on the ground.
According to her account, the trigger was a private conversation at her “Building the Future Together” event in New York on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. She and her representative immediately used the communication channel they had built up in six earlier cases involving the reunification of 34 children with Russia and Ukraine. Both countries immediately named groups to coordinate the complicated organisational questions, including demining. Since then, all sides have been working around the clock.
Kyiv’s side refers to the Human Rights Commissioner
The communications adviser to the Ukrainian President, Dmytro Lytvyn, referred, when asked about the status of the agreement, to the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets. “On the Ukrainian side, Mr Lubinets is handling the Oleshky issue, and it is more correct for him to comment on it, because the issue is sensitive and everything must be exactly as agreed with Mr Lubinets,” Lytvyn said, according to Yevropeiska Pravda. The Kyiv Independent reports that neither Russia nor Ukraine had commented on the ceasefire by the time of publication; the Ukrainian authorities had initially not responded to a request.
Oleshky lies on the left bank of the Dnipro, opposite the city of Kherson. According to the Kyiv Independent, the city is effectively blockaded by Russian forces, who hinder humanitarian aid at the entrance; civilians trying to flee via the only access and exit roads are frequently attacked by drones. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia is holding about 2,000 people there.
Scepticism among aid workers, a Vatican precedent
The coordinator of the aid organisation Humanity, Stefan Vorontsov, expressed hope but also doubt to the Kyiv Independent. “I hope, like all of us, that people will be saved, as many as possible of those who want to be, and not only those who have time. But I fear provocations, blackmail, a route via the Russian Federation that many will not agree with, and PR for those who come out,” he said. “If God wills, we can create a precedent in which Russia admits what it has done in the occupied territories, and we can organise the first official evacuation from there – perhaps then we can do it for the others too.”
The humanitarian situation in Oleshky had recently attracted international attention. According to Yevropeiska Pravda, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno, went on hunger strike in protest. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, declared on 28 September that the EU was trying to bring humanitarian aid into the occupied city. Pope Leo XIV, in a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday of last week, called for a humanitarian ceasefire for the sealed-off city, and on Monday, 19 October, also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the press reported on 19 October, citing the Vatican.
The Kyiv Independent points out that local and time-limited ceasefires have been announced several times in the course of the war, but their implementation on the ground was at best patchy. US President Donald Trump also unilaterally announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine on 13 October, which in practice soon proved not to exist.
Editor’s note: Whether the ceasefire will actually be implemented cannot be assessed on the basis of the available sources. The attribution of the mediation comes solely from the White House statement.
