White House Sets Oct. 29 Start for Oleshky Ceasefire

The White House announced on Friday that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a temporary ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. The agreement is scheduled to begin on October 29. The stated goal is to allow humanitarian aid to enter the area and to prepare for the evacuation of civilians.

According to the White House, the current population of Oleshky is between 1,700 and 2,000 people. This figure includes about 50 children. Before the war began, the city had roughly 24,000 residents. The White House reported that approximately 90 percent of the city is currently flooded following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. The city sits across the Dnipro River from Kherson.

Melania Trump was credited with securing the arrangement. A White House statement said she and her representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to set the terms of the localized truce. "The situation in Oleshky is dire," Trump said in the statement. She described the remaining population as mostly elderly people who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water.

Ukraine's top negotiator, David Arakhamia, confirmed the deal on Telegram. He stated that the humanitarian operation would start once the ceasefire takes hold. Arakhamia said the accord followed a long process involving both Trump and Pope Leo. He noted that the agreement would create a corridor for people to leave and for assistance to come in.

The Kremlin said the evacuation would take at least a few days. Russian forces are set to stop firing from 4 a.m. local time on October 27 to support the operation. Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov made this announcement. The Kremlin praised Trump and said work was underway to ease conditions in the city. This followed a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Leo last week, during which Putin reportedly said he was ready to co-operate on the issue.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States agreed to hold technical-level talks in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. Zelenskyy spoke with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after their meeting with Putin earlier in the week. He stated that any peace deal would need strong security guarantees and 10 years of funding for Ukraine's army.

Fighting continued on Friday as the ceasefire date approaches. Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport briefly suspended operations due to a Ukrainian drone threat. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses downed 21 drones headed for the capital over two hours. The two sides also exchanged 270 prisoners each. Anton Kovalskyi, Ukraine's acting prosecutor general, said more than 19,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 762 children, have been killed since the full-scale invasion began.