Aid to Oleshky Waits Until Oct. 29 Truce Begins
White House officials say roughly 1,850 people are stranded in the flooded city, with evacuation routes opening only after a six-day gap in fighting.
By David Almasi ·
The clock is running for the residents of Oleshky, a city on the brink of collapse.
The White House announced on Friday that a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine will begin on Oct. 29. Until that date arrives, the front line remains active, leaving local civilians without guaranteed access to supplies. The agreement allows humanitarian teams to enter the zone and facilitates the evacuation of civilians along a designated safe passage.
Current estimates place the population of the occupied city between 1,700 and 2,000 people. This group includes approximately 50 children. Before the conflict began, Oleshky was home to roughly 24,000 residents. The White House stated that about 90 percent of the city is currently underwater following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. These conditions have created a severe shortage of essential resources.
Melania Trump, who worked directly with leadership in both Moscow and Kyiv to negotiate the terms, described the conditions as dire. She noted that the remaining population is primarily elderly and in urgent need of medical care, food, and clean water. David Arakhamia, Ukraine's top negotiator, confirmed the details on Telegram. He stated that the humanitarian operation will commence once the ceasefire is in effect, creating a corridor for aid and departures.
The Kremlin indicated that the physical process of evacuation will require several days. Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov specified that Russian forces will cease firing from 4 a.m. local time on Oct. 27. This two-day lead time precedes the official start of the truce on the 29th. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Pope Leo last week, signaling a willingness to cooperate on the matter. The Vatican's involvement was also credited by Arakhamia as part of the long negotiation process.
While the truce addresses immediate relief, broader diplomatic efforts continue. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that technical-level talks involving Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are scheduled for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. Zelenskyy told the Hudson Institute that he has been in contact with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. He emphasized that any final peace deal must include strong security guarantees and ten years of funding for the Ukrainian army.
Fighting persisted in the region on Friday. In Moscow, air defense units downed 21 drones over a two-hour period, causing a brief suspension of operations at Sheremetyevo airport. The two sides also exchanged 270 prisoners. Anton Kovalskyi, Ukraine's acting prosecutor general, reported that more than 19,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 762 children, have been killed since the full-scale invasion began.
