The Kremlin says no violations have been recorded in Oleshky, and no aid arrival has been confirmed

The halt at Oleshky survived its first day, and the clearest statement about it came from the Kremlin.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Tuesday that no ceasefire violations had been recorded so far around the Russian held town, where Moscow and Kyiv agreed to hold fire so aid can go in and residents can come out. The halt took effect at 3 a.m. Kyiv time on Tuesday. Ukraine's negotiating lead, Dmytro Lubinets, said in the morning that Ukraine was honouring its commitments. By Tuesday evening neither government had accused the other of breaking the halt. The guns around Oleshky stayed quiet through the first day, on the word of both capitals.

The aid itself has not been seen yet. No aid convoy arrival in Oleshky had been confirmed in reporting by Tuesday evening, and no evacuation out of the town had been confirmed either. The White House said last week that civilian representatives from Russia and Ukraine will assess what residents need, that people who want to leave will get coordinated transport to destinations in either country, and that an American media organization will travel with the teams to document the work. Peskov said the duration of the operation remains uncertain and that it could continue for several days. Routes into the town are mined, and clearing them is part of the work ahead. Between 1,700 and 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, against a prewar population of about 24,000, and the town is short of food, water and medicine.

The White House put out no statement on the start of the halt by Tuesday evening in the reporting available. The arrangement grew out of First Lady Melania Trump's work with Lubinets and with Russia's commissioner for human rights, Yana Lantratova. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister, told journalists in Rome on Tuesday that Pope Leo had spoken recently with both Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and that he did not believe the Vatican had a hand in arranging this ceasefire.

The war outside the corridor went on. Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv late on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 10, and damaging a university building and dormitories, as of October 27. Attacks on Kharkiv killed two more people. Zelenskiy said negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States have agreed to meet at a technical level in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. One town on the Dnipro had a quiet day. Nothing about Tuesday says how many more it gets.