Melania Trump and Pope Leo push Oleshky aid to Oct. 29

Residents of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky will wait until Oct. 29 for a humanitarian corridor to open, creating a six-day gap before aid can reach the population. The White House announced the temporary ceasefire on Friday, crediting Melania Trump and Pope Leo with securing the agreement. The truce is designed to allow relief supplies to enter and to prepare for a civilian evacuation along a designated safe passage.

Melania Trump described the situation in the front-line city as dire in a White House statement. She said the remaining population consists mostly of elderly people who need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water. Her representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to set the terms of the localized truce.

Oleshky sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson. The White House stated the city currently has 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.

Under the deal, non-military teams from both nations will visit residents in their homes. These teams will help arrange transport for anyone wishing to leave for either Russia or Ukraine. Ukraine's top negotiator, David Arakhamia, confirmed on Telegram that the humanitarian operation would begin once the ceasefire takes hold. He noted the accord followed a long process involving both Melania Trump and Pope Leo.

The Kremlin said an evacuation would take at least a few days. Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov announced that Russian forces will stop firing from 4 a.m. local time on Oct. 27 to support the operation. This early cessation of fire precedes the official start of the truce on Oct. 29. President Vladimir Putin told Pope Leo by telephone last week that he was ready to co-operate on the issue.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said technical-level talks involving Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are scheduled for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. He spoke with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after their meeting with Putin. Zelenskyy stated that any peace deal would require strong security guarantees and 10 years of funding for Ukraine's army.

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