Ceasefire in Oleshky Opens Path for Aid as Kyiv Bridges Are Struck

A temporary halt to fighting in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky began on Tuesday, opening a path for humanitarian aid and evacuations in a southern Ukrainian community that has been under Moscow's control since the first weeks of the 2022 invasion. The pause covers fire directed toward the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Telegram that shelling in the direction of Kherson stopped at 4 a.m. Moscow time in preparation for work in Oleshky, which sits across the Dnipro River from the city. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's parliamentary commissioner for human rights, said on Facebook that the Ukrainian side was abiding by the arrangement. Lubinets said the deal was reached in co-ordination with Melania Trump and Russia's human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova. Pope Leo also spoke with the presidents of Ukraine and Russia to press for a pause in Oleshky.

Oleshky has been battered by war since Russian forces seized it in early 2022, and it was hit hard by flooding after the Kakhovka Dam broke in 2023. The United States has said a few thousand people remain in the town, down from a prewar population of 24,000, and residents and officials have reported severe shortages of food and medicine.

Strikes continued elsewhere. In Kyiv, the Southern Bridge and subway infrastructure were hit on Tuesday, forcing a suspension of traffic, city officials said, while a Reuters witness heard explosions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Russia's overnight attacks involved 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones, and he called the barrage a serious escalation against Ukrainian logistics. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Telegram that it struck transport infrastructure in Kyiv, a logistics hub in the Kharkiv region, industrial facilities and cargo vessels it cited as being put to military use.

On the Russian side, two men were killed and six people were injured in Ukrainian drone attacks in the city of Bryansk, regional governor Egor Kovalchuk said on Telegram on Tuesday. Another person was killed and 30 were injured when a drone hit a bus in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, local officials said. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the reports. Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians.

White House envoys have spoken with both sides in recent days as the United States seeks to mediate a peace deal to end the war, Europe's deadliest conflict since the Second World War. On Friday, Zelenskyy said negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had agreed to meet at a technical level in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi to continue talks. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere also held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war on Tuesday.

The Finnish president's office said the discussion was frank and substantive. Stubb said in a statement that the outcome of the war would have a direct effect on Finnish and broader European security. Western European leaders have mostly avoided contact with Putin since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine, and Moscow has accused European governments of arming Ukraine and refusing to talk to it. An aide for Zelenskyy said he was briefed by the Finnish and Norwegian leaders after their call with Putin.