US-brokered ceasefire starts in Ukrainian town facing starvation

A ceasefire began on Tuesday around the Ukrainian town of Oleshky ‌after ​more than four years of Russian occupation which have left trapped and starving residents desperate for food, water and medicine. The local ceasefire, brokered by US first lady Melania Trump with the involvement of Pope Leo, is intended to allow aid into Oleshky and enable those who want to leave to do so. Some residents say they have survived on a cup of rice ‌or buckwheat a day, sometimes with a tomato, cucumber or wild weed added.

Russia and Ukraine both said they were abiding by the local ceasefire around the frontline city, which went into force at 3 a.m. Ukrainian time (0100 GMT) as part of stuttering US efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine and is due to last until November 1. The ceasefire does not apply elsewhere, and Russian forces again pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with ballistic missiles overnight, killing at least one person, local officials said.

Kyiv residents said they hoped ‌the Oleshky ceasefire would finally bring some relief to locals, but optimism was tinged with concerns that Russia would not abide by the terms of the agreement. "I want to hope that things will indeed work out this way, that the agreement ‌will actually be implemented, and that the Russian side will keep its word," Olha Haiduk, 59, told Reuters.

The head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's ruling faction in parliament, David Arakhamia, called it the "biggest de-escalation since 2022." RUSSIAN OCCUPATION

Oleshky lies on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, opposite Kherson city, which is held by Ukrainian forces. Russian troops seized Oleshky during the first days of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and have controlled it ever since. Oleshky has suffered extensive war damage and was hit hard by flooding after the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam in 2023.

The United States has ⁠said only a ​few thousand people remain in the town from a prewar population ⁠of 24,000. Residents and officials have reported severe shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies, and Oleshky has been largely cut off from running water, electricity, gas and central heating. Residents have offered harrowing accounts of risking their lives travelling along mine-strewn roads just to access food and water, one of which they ⁠call the "road of death".

Ukrainian and Russian officials have said humanitarian corridors will be established to allow aid deliveries and the movement of residents. This is expected to involve demining of roads and could take several days. One resident who managed to flee Oleshky told Reuters many of those remaining ​in Oleshky are sick or elderly, and that it would be difficult for them to relocate.

Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky. Drones present the greatest threat to civilian life, and the town ⁠is within easy reach of unmanned aerial vehicles belonging to both armies. White House envoys have talked to both sides in recent days as part of the US efforts to mediate an end to Europe's deadliest conflict since the World War Two.

Zelenskiy said last week that three-way talks would continue in Abu Dhabi in early ⁠November. ​Russia's pace of battlefield gains has slowed this year, but it has said Kyiv must cede the remaining 20% of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine that it still controls before Russian forces stop fighting. Nataliia Bondar, a 52-year-old accountant in Kyiv, said she was pessimistic about Washington's ability to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Unfortunately, it seems to me that they are somewhat in their own world and do not understand the true nature of this man," she said. "That you should not negotiate with him." NEW ⁠STRIKES ON KYIV

Russia's overnight strikes damaged a university campus and Kyiv's important Southern Bridge, in what Zelenskiy described as "a serious escalation" against Ukrainian logistics. A Ukrainian military source said the bridge had been hit with four Iskander ballistic missiles.

Zelenskiy said ⁠energy facilities, logistics and infrastructure in 10 other regions also came under ⁠attack overnight. Moscow's defence ministry said it had struck transport infrastructure in Kyiv, a logistics hub in the Kharkiv region, as well as industrial facilities and cargo vessels in attacks aimed at military targets.

In Russia, a drone attack killed one person in the western city of Bryansk near the border with Ukraine, authorities said. One person was killed and 30 injured in a strike on ‌a bus in a Moscow-held part of Ukraine's ‌Zaporizhzhia region, officials said. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the reports. Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians.

(Additional reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in ​Tokyo and Tom Balmforth in London; Editing by Timothy Heritage)