Tuesday 27 October 2026
Russia and Ukraine begin the Oleshky ceasefire while strikes hit Kyiv
Russia and Ukraine confirmed on Tuesday that the local ceasefire around Oleshky has begun, clearing the way for aid deliveries and evacuations from the Russian held town across the Dnipro River from Kherson. Russia said it stopped shelling toward Kherson at 4 a.m. Moscow time. Strikes hit Kyiv the same morning, striking the Southern Bridge and subway infrastructure and forcing traffic to a halt.
The guns around one town on the Dnipro went quiet on Tuesday morning while the war went on everywhere else.
Russia and Ukraine both said the local ceasefire at Oleshky had begun. It started at 3 a.m. Kyiv time. Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram that it stopped shelling in the direction of Kherson from 4 a.m. Moscow time to prepare for the humanitarian effort in Oleshky, the Russian held town on the eastern bank of the river, opposite Ukrainian held Kherson. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's parliamentary commissioner for human rights, confirmed the same timing from the Ukrainian side. "As head of the Ukrainian negotiating team, I confirm that the Ukrainian side is honouring its commitments," he wrote on Facebook.
Lubinets said the deal was reached in coordination with First Lady Melania Trump, working with Russia's commissioner for human rights, Yana Lantratova. The halt is meant to let aid convoys reach a town short of food and medicine and to let residents leave through humanitarian corridors. Russian troops seized Oleshky in the first days of the February 2022 invasion and have held it since.
The week before the halt was not quiet. Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine on Monday of striking Oleshky 18 times with artillery and carrying out more than 120 drone attacks on the town and the roads around it since October 19, and said the attacks had blocked aid and stopped people leaving. Reuters could not verify that claim. Ukraine has accused Russia in the past of keeping aid out and residents in.
Kyiv took strikes on Tuesday while the ceasefire held at Oleshky. City officials said the attacks hit the Southern Bridge and subway infrastructure and forced a suspension of traffic, and a Reuters witness in the capital heard explosions. White House envoys have talked with both sides in recent days as the United States works to mediate an end to the war. The Oleshky halt is a local arrangement around one town. Tuesday morning showed what that means in practice: one corridor quiet, the rest of the front untouched by it.
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