Humanitarian truce announced for Ukrainian city of Oleshky

News of a truce in Oleshky, which could take effect next Tuesday, has come just a week after Pope Leo XIV appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Ukrainian city.

During a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was receiving treatment, the Pope highlighted the humanitarian situation in the city in the Kherson region. He stressed the urgent need for a truce to allow food and medical aid to reach civilians and enable their safe and voluntary evacuation.

On Monday, the Pope also spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That conversation likewise focused on the situation in Oleshky and the need for a humanitarian truce.

The Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, confirmed the truce, thanking US First Lady Melania Trump for her role in securing the ceasefire.

Describing the humanitarian mission as complex, he wrote on Telegram that “the operation will take place in stages”, stressing that Ukraine “has done and is doing everything possible to save the people in Oleshky”.

Russia’s armed forces will observe a ceasefire from the early hours of Tuesday, 27 October, to facilitate the humanitarian operation near Oleshky, towards Kherson, according to General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defence Minister.

An earlier announcement had given Thursday, 29 October, as the start date.