Six-Day Local Ceasefire Ends in Russian-Held Oleshky in Kherson Region

A local ceasefire in force around the Russian-held town of Oleshky in Ukraine's southern Kherson region has expired. A Ukrainian official said the ceasefire ended on Sunday night. It was the longest local ceasefire since the war began.

Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said the ceasefire had been in effect from 27 October to 1 November.

Oleshky sits on the left bank of the Dnipro River, directly opposite the city of Kherson. Russian forces captured the town after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian forces recaptured Kherson city and the west bank of the river in November 2022, but Oleshky remained under Russian control.

The war has made life difficult for civilians in Oleshky, where shortages of food, clean water and medicine have been reported.

The ceasefire initiative was taken to deliver humanitarian aid to the roughly 1,700 to 2,000 people still living in the town and to safely evacuate those who wished to leave.

On 23 October, US First Lady Melania Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia had reached an understanding on a ceasefire to allow humanitarian work in Oleshky.

The initiative was coordinated by Lubinets for Ukraine and by Russia's human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova. The understanding covered the ceasefire itself, the delivery of humanitarian aid, mine clearance and safe passage for civilians.

While the ceasefire was in force, Ukraine said both sides were observing it in the designated area, and work had begun to clear mines from the aid delivery route.

With the ceasefire now expired, it is still unclear how the humanitarian work and the evacuation of civilians from Oleshky will proceed.