Russia, Ukraine report ceasefire holding in southern Ukrainian town awaiting aid

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian and Ukrainian human rights officials said Thursday that a temporary ceasefire was holding in southern Ukraine’s Russian-controlled town of Oleshky, allowing preparations for aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.

The town, in the Kherson region across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, faces severe shortages of food, medicine and clean water, according to the White House. An estimated 1,700-2,000 residents remain, mostly older people unable to leave.

Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets said neither side had recorded violations of the localized truce, which has been observed since Tuesday.

"The sides are fully fulfilling their commitments, and not a single violation has been recorded. This allows the military to continue clearing roads of mines and to prepare safe passage for a humanitarian convoy," Lantratova told reporters in Belarus.

Representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian humanitarian missions arrived in Belarus earlier in the day accompanied by journalists and will travel onward to the city of Oleshky to monitor the ceasefire.

The Kremlin said earlier this week that a US-mediated humanitarian operation had begun in the area and that a temporary "silence regime" had been introduced on the Kherson front.

Journalists from the US television channel Newsmax are expected to accompany the teams and document the humanitarian operation.

According to the White House, the localized ceasefire was negotiated by First Lady Melania Trump.

“It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible,” she said in a statement.