Ceasefire extended across Ukraine's Kherson region, officials say

Image source, Reuters/Handout

Image caption,

The people of Oleshky have had no electricity for years and no access to food or water

ByPaul KirbyEurope digital editorOlga Malchevska and Dan Johnsonin Kyiv

A ceasefire that began with the aim of getting food and medicine to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky has been extended across the wider southern region of Kherson, according to sources.

Several thousand residents are trapped in the city with no access to food, water and electricity. On one side is the Dnipro river, while Russian forces are on the other and all the roads out are too dangerous.

However, no breaches of the truce that began early on Tuesday have so far been reported.

US First Lady Melania Trump, who helped broker the ceasefire along with Pope Leo XIV, said on Tuesday that the area involved had been expanded to provide "safe passage" for humanitarian convoys.

Figure caption,

What we know about Ukraine-Russia truce in Oleshky, brokered by Melania Trump

That was later corroborated by the press secretary to Ukraine's public ombudsman, and by Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of Kherson, who said Russian shelling had stopped both in Kherson city, which is in Ukrainian hands, and the wider region.

Under the deal, the ceasefire will be followed by deliveries of humanitarian aid to Oleshky and then evacuations, planned for Friday, for anyone wishing to leave.

An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in Oleshky itself and a few thousand more in surrounding areas.

Many residents have resorted to cooking garden weeds to survive, telling the BBC they are suffering extreme hunger and want to leave.

Both sides said the ceasefire was being observed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said everything was proceeding "according to plan", and paid tribute to US mediation and in particular representatives of Melania Trump.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said if the ceasefire produced results, it could "pave the way for other steps in the peace process".

A key official in President Volodymyr Zelensky's parliamentary party, David Arakhamia, said it would continue until 22:59 Ukrainian time on Sunday 1 November, and described the truce as the "largest de-escalation since 2022".

Before the war Oleshky was home to 24,000 people, but it was seized by Russia during the first days of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

No shops are open, and the city has had no electricity, gas or water since the Kakhovka Dam was blown up in 2023, flooding the area and killing many people in Oleshky itself.

Conditions have become so desperate that not only is getting supplies into the city extremely difficult, but escaping is too risky because the routes out of Oleshky have been mined and subject to drone attack.

One woman told the BBC she had stepped on a landmine and was currently in hospital where she had undergone two operations: "I don't know how long I will have to spend there," she said, worried about not being able to join the evacuation.

Pope Leo appealed earlier this month to Russia's President Vladimir Putin to allow food and medical aid into Oleshky as well as a safe evacuation, and urged his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to co-operate with Moscow over a ceasefire.

Then the White House said last week that Melania Trump had secured a ceasefire.

On Tuesday, the US first lady said on X that the area covered by the ceasefire "has expanded beyond Oleshky, within the Kherson region, to provide safe passage for the humanitarian convoys".

Image source, Ksenia Arkhipova

Image caption,

These residents were able to get out of Oleshky in spring this year

The current truce is supposed to enable roads to be cleared of mines for supplies to get into the city possibly on Thursday, and for residents to have safe passage out in an evacuation planned for Friday.

Russia's defence ministry said units from the army's Dnepr group had been conducting "engineering reconnaissance" and clearing main access roads into the village of "explosive and booby-trap devices".

Many details on the evacuation plans are unclear, and residents are wary of trusting officials with their names and addresses. However, a local volunteer told the BBC that about 500 people had already expressed interest by Tuesday afternoon.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of occupied areas of Kherson, said temporary accommodation had been prepared in the region itself as well as Russian-annexed Crimea and across the Russian border in the Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions.

Saldo told Russian media that most Oleshky residents wanted to leave the city and stay in Russia, although his account has not been corroborated on the ground.

Image source, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets

Image caption,

Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since 2022 and its people are now trapped

It is hard to make contact with people there as communication is patchy and many are reluctant to speak of the situation in fear of reprisals from the Russians.

Those residents or relatives who have spoken to the BBC have expressed fears that Russia may not allow them to return to Ukraine, or might examine their phones and online activity for signs of Ukrainian support, which could put them in danger.

Ukraine's military general staff urged people not to trust unverified reports or spread rumours about "the routes, time and place of the movement of people and humanitarian convoys".

Zelensky has warned that routes out of Oleshky that are demined by Russia will ensure that those civilians leaving Oleshky will "head towards Russia and stay there".

He said some residents would get to Ukrainian-controlled territory "one way or another", and that ideally anyone trapped would be able to reach their destination and evacuate to Ukraine.

One resident called Serhii, who fled Oleshky through minefields around three weeks ago, said he had eventually returned to Ukraine via Russia and Belarus. He called for a route across the River Dnipro that avoided Russian-occupied territory, saying "you simply cannot trust the Russian Federation".

However, bridges across the River Dnipro have been destroyed and sources say the riverbank is also mined and dangerous, so crossing into Ukrainian-controlled territory appears impossible.

Across the river, in Kherson city, no explosions have been heard and no drone-related injuries reported since 03:00 (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday and cars and pedestrians have been moving freely, according to local reports.

"Judging from the fact that more people are walking around, it feels a bit calmer," Galina Kyrychenko, a resident in the city, told public broadcaster Suspilne.

Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko in Kyiv.