KYIV — Russia and Ukraine began a localized ceasefire early Tuesday in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky to allow humanitarian aid and possible evacuations, even as Russian ballistic missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight and damaged a major bridge, a university campus, and medical facilities.
The truce in Oleshky, a town on the southern bank of the Dnipro River across from Kherson, was brokered with the involvement of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Russia’s human-rights commissioner. Both sides confirmed that firing in the sector stopped at the agreed hour. Ukrainian parliamentary human-rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said Ukraine was honouring the commitment. Russia’s defence ministry said it had introduced a “regime of silence” in the direction of Kherson to prepare for the aid operation.
Oleshky has been under Russian control since 2022. Its pre-war population of roughly 24,000 has fallen to about 2,000, including as many as 50 children, according to Ukrainian and U.S. estimates. Residents who remain have reported severe shortages of food, water, and medicine. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of preventing people from leaving; Moscow has denied the claim. The temporary halt is intended to open a window for supplies to reach the town and for civilians who want to leave to do so.
The same morning, Kyiv was under attack. Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces launched ballistic missiles, including Iskander and S-400 systems from Bryansk Oblast, along with roughly 280 strike drones, 69 of them jet-powered. Air defences shot down or suppressed two ballistic missiles and 255 drones. Impacts and falling debris were recorded at dozens of locations across the capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said strikes hit the Southern Bridge, disrupting metro service, and damaged medical facilities including an intensive-care unit. At least one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured, among them a paramedic, a medical technician, and a university student. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the missiles struck crowded areas with no military facilities nearby.
The contrast is the story. A narrow, negotiated pause is operating in one occupied town so that aid can move, while the broader campaign of missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities continues without interruption. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a rare phone call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and told him that attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure needed to de-escalate, according to Zelenskyy. The call followed an earlier meeting in Oslo that included Zelenskyy and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
Day 1,707 of the full-scale invasion continues under the same pattern that has held for months: localized arrangements when both sides see a short-term interest, and continued strikes everywhere else. The Oleshky window is open for now. The strikes on Kyiv show how narrow that window remains.
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