Everyone's afraid, but they're pressing on: how the local ceasefire in Oleshky became a test for a broader deal
At 03:00 on 27 October 2026, something happened in Kherson Oblast that local residents had grown unaccustomed to after years of full-scale war: silence fell.
Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a temporary cessation of hostilities in part of Kherson Oblast in order to allow a humanitarian mission to reach Russian-occupied Oleshky. Since then, attacks have stopped in Kherson and its outskirts, drones have disappeared from the skies, and the sound of artillery explosions has ceased.
Local residents and soldiers alike are surprised by this new – or rather long-forgotten – reality. After years of continuous hostilities, peace has become an unfamiliar experience.
Occasional detonations can still be heard, mostly during mine clearance operations. The danger, however, has not disappeared: people continue to come across landmines even in Kherson itself.
Valeriia, a local resident, told Ukrainska Pravda that there has been noticeably more traffic – buses and cars – on the roads in recent days.
Yet not everyone has welcomed the unusual silence with relief. For some residents, the ceasefire has brought fresh anxiety. They fear that once it ends, Russian forces will bring new weapons into Oleshky and resume its attacks on Kherson with even greater intensity.
"Some people say, 'Oh, it'll be bad after the ceasefire, and Kherson will take a beating.' So what? Shouldn't we save people? Should we just let them suffer?" Valeriia says with feeling.
The pause in hostilities, which is due to last from 03:00 on 27 October until 22:59 on 1 November, means far more than a temporary lull along one section of the front line.
First and foremost, it is a humanitarian operation intended to open up access to Russian-occupied Oleshky, deliver aid, and enable civilians to evacuate.
But at the same time, it's also an important military and political experiment: the first attempt to test whether Ukraine and Russia can not only agree on a ceasefire but also ensure that political decisions are implemented on the ground, directly along the front line.
Ukrainska Pravda has examined how the preparations were made for the Oleshky ceasefire and what we can expect from it.
The Pope and Melania Trump step in to save Oleshky
In September 2026, the humanitarian catastrophe in Russian-occupied Oleshky began to turn into an issue of international diplomacy.
Ukrainian religious organisations were among the first to sound the alarm. On 19 September, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations appealed to Pope Leo XIV, the World Council of Churches and other influential religious bodies, urging them to intervene.
The appeal described the de facto humanitarian blockade of the city, which had received no regular food supplies since late May.
Representatives of international organisations began responding to the appeal almost immediately. They included Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, and Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
In mid-October, Pope Leo XIV personally joined the international efforts. On 16 October, he called Vladimir Putin and proposed a temporary ceasefire to allow food and medicine to be delivered and civilians to evacuate voluntarily.
Three days later, the Pope discussed the proposal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On 20 October, Pina Picierno, an Italian politician and vice-president of the European Parliament, joined the campaign to draw attention to Oleshky. She began a hunger strike to highlight the situation of those living in Oleshky and press for a humanitarian corridor to be set up.
A pivotal moment in the international efforts came on 23 October, when the White House unexpectedly announced that US First Lady Melania Trump had helped secure an agreement between Ukraine and Russia on a local ceasefire in Oleshky.
According to CNN journalists, Oleshky first came to Melania Trump's attention in September. At an event she hosted during the week of the UN General Assembly, someone told the first lady about the tragedy unfolding in the Ukrainian city. Melania immediately set to work.
The White House's official statement referred to a temporary halt in hostilities, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the establishment of safe passage for the evacuation of civilians.
The White House's initial announcement said the ceasefire would begin on 29 October. However, on 23 October, both Ukraine and Russia confirmed that preparations were underway for an operation to begin what was called the "silence regime".
On the Ukrainian side, the Office of Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets coordinated work with Russia and international partners. Behind the scenes, Davyd Arakhamiia, who is also a member of Ukraine's negotiating team, handled communications with the White House and Russian institutions.
Melania Trump's statement made no mention of this, but it was Arakhamiia who persuaded her to make a public announcement.
"Once again, the Russians had started backtracking on the agreement," a source in Ukrainian diplomatic circles told Ukrainska Pravda. "Through Davyd, our side arranged with Washington for Melania to issue a statement, effectively cutting off the Russians' opportunity to back out."
At 03:00 Kyiv time on 27 October, the ceasefire came into effect.
That same day, Melania Trump announced that the parties had not only managed to bring the ceasefire forward by two days, but had also extended it beyond Oleshky itself to provide safe passage for humanitarian convoys.
A test of peace: the other side of Oleshky
The ceasefire agreement in Oleshky has implications that go beyond the humanitarian situation, extending into the broader military and political sphere.
The organisers intend the local ceasefire to serve as a test of whether the Ukrainian and Russian military command structures can implement political agreements to halt hostilities.
A source involved in organising the ceasefire told Ukrainska Pravda that putting even such a limited agreement into practice has proved an extremely difficult task.
Problems have arisen not only on the Russian side, but also within Ukraine's own military system.
"Halting the hostilities has turned out to be an extremely difficult task," a source in Zelenskyy's team told Ukrainska Pravda. "Even when the military have reached an agreement, they keep backtracking and pulling out. We've already reached an agreement with our own military three times, but they backed out on all three occasions, saying: 'Have them call us again and guarantee that nothing will go wrong after we stop fighting.'"
According to sources, the problem is that a political order to cease fire does not automatically translate into a halt in hostilities on the front line.
Military commanders must learn not only to issue the relevant orders, but also to ensure that every unit in the designated area complies with them.
A source from Zelenskyy's inner circle explains: "We want to get the military – both our General Staff and the Russian one – used to the idea that if the political leadership decides that we're going to stop and freeze hostilities along a particular section of the front line, with neither side opening fire, the military can manage the process. They can guarantee it. Rather than the political leadership reaching an agreement and the military saying, 'Sorry, we can't stop, we've got something going on there.'"
Paradoxically, however, sometimes it's just as hard to get Ukrainian forces to implement such agreements as to get Russian forces to.
"Over the years, the Russians have stamped out internal resistance. They have a rigid military hierarchy. Our army, by contrast, is decentralised. And someone – some well-known military blogger – can go on air and say something that causes the whole thing to fall apart," the source says.
If the experiment in Oleshky is a success, its organisers hope to repeat a similar operation on another section of the front line some time later.
"We want to try it now, and if it works, then after a short interval, we want to organise a humanitarian corridor on another section of the front line as well," a source involved in organising the truce explains. "The idea is to teach the military how to do this – how to stop, guarantee safe passage and so on – so that later, if a major agreement is reached, we can implement it straight away."
Oleshky residents prepare to leave
Meanwhile, in Oleshky itself, preparations are underway for the evacuation, which is due to begin on 30 October.
For those willing to evacuate, the biggest concern is the route out. The Ukrainian authorities have not officially announced it, and two possible routes are being discussed among local residents: to Ukrainian-controlled territory or through Russia.
According to the terms of the agreement posted by Fox News, the route to Ukraine will be via Russia. The Ukrainian delegation, together with those wishing to leave, will travel from Oleshky to the Russian city of Anapa in Krasnodar Krai under escort from Russia's Dnepr military grouping. From there, on 31 October, they will be flown to Homiel (Gomel) in Belarus on a military transport aircraft operated by Russia's Ministry of Defence. Dmytro Lubinets and representatives of his office are also due to travel on this flight. The agreement was signed by Lubinets and Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova on 23 October.
A volunteer who spoke to Ukrainska Pravda said that so far several hundred people have signed up for evacuation. As previously reported, around 1,500 people still remain in Oleshky.
Volunteers are compiling lists of those wishing to leave, although people had previously been told to register at the local hospital, which is controlled by the Russians and has become the city's main hub during the occupation.
"Those lists at the hospital are being drawn up by the orcs. Who'd go to Russia? People should register through our people," Mariia, a local resident, told Ukrainska Pravda.
At the hospital, the Russians are resorting to intimidation and fear-mongering, telling people in Oleshky that they will only be allowed to take one bag with them during the evacuation. The occupying forces are also insisting that everyone will be taken to Russia, where they will have to go through filtration camps and other checks.
The volunteers who spoke to Ukrainska Pravda said the filtration rumours are just the latest Russian fake news, intended to make people base their evacuation decisions on fear.
Many people in Oleshky have no communications. Locals say the Russians are also deliberately jamming communications, making it increasingly difficult to organise the evacuation. Residents of Oleshky who know about the evacuation lists are trying to pass information on to those who cannot access it.
"There are elderly people who can't leave their homes and are cut off from the rest of the world. Their neighbours come over and tell them all about the evacuation," Mariia said.
Lists of people wishing to leave are being compiled by volunteers and representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. Lubinets' office is collecting information about those who need to be evacuated. Family members are signing up as well as Oleshky residents themselves: often, people who have already left for Ukrainian-controlled territory or Europe are adding their parents to the lists remotely.
People are trying to find relatives who are still in Oleshky and have been out of contact for a long time by reaching out through acquaintances.
Animals are also being prepared for evacuation from Oleshky. Even people who left their pets behind in Oleshky earlier are contacting volunteers and asking them to collect the animals.
Four-legged friends can be evacuated, but there is one complication when it comes to dogs: they have to wear muzzles.
"We found a bag of muzzles in Oleshky. People are now trying to work out how to pass them on to other pet owners," another local resident, Sofiia, told Ukrainska Pravda.
"There's an elderly couple – the woman has a severe form of diabetes, and they can't make it to the place where the bag is. They want to evacuate their dog, which weighs 40 kg. It's a calm dog, and intelligent, but it has to have a muzzle."
"Everyone knows what to expect from the Russians"
Oleshky residents have little faith that the evacuation can be carried out successfully. People are fearfully imagining various scenarios, including the possibility of a strike on the convoy.
"Everyone knows what the Russians are like. No one trusts them an inch. How many times have they declared truces along different sections of the line of contact? And how many times have they broken them?" says Mariia.
Statements by the occupying forces are also fuelling the distrust. Russia has promised to deliver humanitarian aid to Oleshky itself, and the news has triggered a fresh wave of fear among local residents. There have been cases in the past when Russian forces have delivered ammunition under the guise of "humanitarian aid".
"It's terrifying. They could bring in more than just aid. A lot more… We've been through this before. Everyone knows the Russians are f**king liars," Mykhailo, an Oleshky resident, told Ukrainska Pravda.
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While some Oleshky residents are looking for any way to leave, others have become so disillusioned that they have decided to stay – in a place where not only normal life but even existence itself is impossible.
These people are hoping that humanitarian aid will be delivered, enabling them to hold out for a little longer.
"One man I know says he can't take it any more," Mykhailo said. "He doesn't care any more; he doesn't have the strength to leave. I've offered him the chance to leave so many times, but he says no. I told him, 'Mate, look, it's your choice, but think it through carefully…'
And there are a lot of people like him who simply won't leave."
People have split into two camps: those who have lost hope after repeated failed attempts to "rescue" them, and those in whom even the tiniest glimmer of hope for a new life has begun to flicker.
Ultimately, it's up to everyone to make their own choice and take responsibility for it. After all, it cannot be ruled out that after a few days of this "first truce", fighting on the Kherson front could escalate to unprecedented levels.
"There's going to be some serious ping-pong," one local volunteer told Ukrainska Pravda. "Everything will be wiped out. The Russians will bring in ammunition supplies now. Locals are already watching the Russians move in equipment and ammo and prepare to attack Kherson."
But one of the organisers of the mission in Oleshky told Ukrainska Pravda that he still believes the operation could succeed and have positive consequences.
"If everything works out, this will be the first example of a genuine truce across a fairly large section of the front line. It's been such a struggle – the military, the FSB and Lord knows who else are doing nothing but trying to sabotage the whole thing. But we believe it will work out and set a precedent."
Roman Romaniuk, Anastasiia Zazuliak and Tetiana Kryvishyn for Ukrainska Pravda
Translated by Myroslava Zavadska and Anna Kybukevych
Edited by Teresa Pearce