Melania Trump Brokers Ceasefire in Oleshky: When the Evacuation Will Begin

Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a temporary halt to hostilities in the front-line city of Oleshky to carry out the evacuation of civilians and deliver humanitarian aid. First Lady of the United States Melania Trump acted as the intermediary in the negotiations. The local ceasefire is set to take effect on October 29, 2026.

This was reported in a statement on the White House's official website on October 23.

The negotiations concerned the creation of a safe corridor for residents who found themselves trapped on the front line. The vast majority of them are elderly people and children who need medical assistance, medicine, food and drinking water.

According to the First Lady of the United States, non-military leaders of both countries will be involved in the evacuation procedure and needs assessment, and civilians will be able to choose the direction of evacuation. The process will be accompanied by independent American media to document actions on the ground.

The negotiations started during the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, where they used a direct communication channel previously established during the return of 34 Ukrainian children. Technical preparations for the corridor also include demining certain areas.

What the Situation in Oleshky Is Like Now

The occupied city of Oleshky on the left bank of Kherson Oblast is in a de facto humanitarian blockade. According to preliminary estimates, more than 6,000 people (including about 200 children) remain in the city and surrounding settlements, while between 1,700 and 2,000 civilians are in the city itself.

The last official food deliveries there took place as recently as late May, after which Russian forces blocked exit and humanitarian missions. The blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant also caused additional destruction, after which about 90% of the city's territory was flooded.

Because it has been impossible to deliver aid by land, Ukrainian forces have repeatedly passed food and medicine to local residents by drone (during one such operation, about 4 tons of cargo were dropped). However, Russian occupiers take these packages from people.

Also read: 270 more defenders returned to Ukraine from captivity, most of them defenders of Mariupol

As a reminder, the Verkhovna Rada's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported, that Ukraine has "advanced as far as possible" in negotiations on evacuating people from Oleshky and is awaiting concrete results. Earlier, in September, he noted that the Russian side had for a long time ignored requests to conduct a humanitarian mission in this area.