Oleshky ceasefire begins as missiles strike Kyiv minutes later
The local truce is meant to allow aid to reach up to 2,000 trapped residents. In Kyiv, the South Bridge was damaged and metro service is restricted.
Archive image · Photo: Artemka / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
A localized ceasefire took effect at 3 a.m. Kyiv time on Tuesday in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region. It is due to last at least until Saturday and allow an aid mission to deliver doctors, medicine, food and water before evacuation corridors open. The U.N. says up to 2,000 people are trapped there. U.S. first lady Melania Trump brokered the deal. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said "the Ukrainian side is honoring its commitments," and Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed fighting in the area had stopped.
Minutes after the truce began, Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the South Bridge and metro infrastructure there were damaged; the red line now runs only between Akademmistechko and Darnytsia, and the green line is split into two sections. An administrative building was hit in the Podilskyi district.
Late on Monday, missiles hit the grounds of a Kyiv university, killing one person and injuring 10, according to city officials. Two people were killed in Kharkiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote that the world must see that Russia is "showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war."