As of 8:45 PM IST, Tuesday 27 October 2026. This is a developing story; aid convoys and evacuations had not been reported as started at the time of writing.
A local ceasefire took hold on Tuesday in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town on the left bank of the Dnipro river in Ukraine's Kherson region, opening a window for humanitarian aid, mine clearance and a planned evacuation of civilians who have lived for three years without electricity, gas or running water.
The truce began at 3 AM Kyiv time (6:30 AM IST), according to the BBC. The White House has said the arrangement was secured by US First Lady Melania Trump, acting as what it called the "Exclusive Intermediary" between the two sides.
What has been agreed
Russia's Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, ordered a "regime of silence" in the area from 4 AM Moscow time, Anadolu Agency reported. Ukrainian officials and Russia's defence ministry both said on Tuesday that the truce was being respected, the BBC reported.
Accounts of how long it will last differ. Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia said it runs until 23:59 local time on 1 November, according to the BBC. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the exact duration was not yet certain and could be several days, Anadolu reported. The Kyiv Post noted that the White House had originally announced Thursday 29 October as the start date before the sides settled on 27 October.
The pause is meant to allow aid deliveries, demining and a civilian evacuation that the BBC says is planned for Friday. As of Tuesday evening IST, neither side had reported aid convoys entering the town or evacuations beginning, according to the Kyiv Post, and no independent monitoring mechanism had been publicly named.
Who is negotiating
Ukraine's side is led by human-rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Russia's by its human-rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova. "The Ukrainian side is honoring its commitments," Lubinets said. Kyrylo Budanov, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, said: "It is critically important that this mission to rescue our people proceeds successfully and safely."
Melania Trump described the situation in the town as "dire" and "on the brink of disaster". Zelensky, however, has warned that evacuation routes demined by Russia would send people toward Russian-held territory rather than to Ukrainian-controlled areas.
How many people are trapped?
Estimates vary by source. The BBC reports that Kyiv believes up to 6,000 people, including about 200 children, remain in Oleshky and the surrounding area, with about 1,700 in the town itself, which had a pre-war population of around 24,000. The Associated Press has put the number in the town at up to 2,000, while the Kyiv Post gives a range of 1,700 to 2,000.
Residents have been cut off from electricity, gas and water for three years, and some are reported to be eating weeds to survive, the BBC said. Pope Leo XIV appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the town earlier this month.
The war goes on elsewhere
The Oleshky truce is strictly local. On Monday evening, Russian strikes on Kyiv killed one person and injured 14, while a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Bryansk region killed one and injured six, according to the BBC. Wider US-brokered talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv remain separate from this humanitarian arrangement.
What to watch
- Whether aid convoys actually reach the town in the coming days.
- Whether Friday's planned evacuation goes ahead, and in which direction civilians are taken.
- Whether both sides keep to the silence until the end date cited by Ukraine (1 November) or a different one.
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- Putin agrees to resume US-Russia-Ukraine talks
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