Ceasefire for Oleshky extended to Kherson region — BBC News
The ceasefire introduced to deliver food and medicines to temporarily occupied Oleshky in Kherson Oblast has been extended to a wider area of the region. BBC News reports this. According to the outlet, no reports of violations have been received since the ceasefire began on Tuesday.
Oleshky has been under the temporary occupation of the Russian Federation, the aggressor state, since the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in the city, with several thousand more in surrounding areas. Residents have no access to food, water or electricity, while routes out are dangerous due to mines and the threat of drone attacks.
Humanitarian convoys and evacuation
US First Lady Melania Trump said that the area covered by the agreement had been expanded within Kherson Oblast to allow the safe passage of humanitarian convoys. This was also confirmed by the spokesperson for the Ukrainian ombudsman and Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of Kherson. According to him, Russian shelling has stopped both in Ukrainian-controlled Kherson and across the wider region.
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The agreement provides for the demining of main access roads, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Oleshky and the evacuation of those wishing to leave, which is planned for Friday. A local volunteer told BBC News that, as of Tuesday afternoon, about 500 people had said they wanted to evacuate.
Duration of the ceasefire
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the ceasefire was being observed. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that the successful implementation of the agreement could open the way for other steps in the peace process. Davyd Arakhamia, a representative of the parliamentary faction of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that the ceasefire was to last until 22:59 Kyiv time on Sunday, November 1, and called it the largest de-escalation since 2022.
At the same time, the details of the evacuation remain unclear to residents. People who spoke to the outlet fear that Russia may not allow them to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory or may check their phones and online activity. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine urged people not to trust unverified reports and not to share information about the routes, timing and locations of the movement of people and humanitarian convoys.
