Humanitarian Convoy Prepares to Reach Besieged Ukrainian City of Oleshky Under U.S.-Brokered Truce

Kyiv: A humanitarian convoy bound for the stricken city of Oleshky has been assembled in a nearby town and is due to carry out its aid mission later on Friday, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

The convoy comprises 25 buses, ambulances and other vehicles, said Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman and chief negotiator. “We are bringing humanitarian aid to the local residents of the city of Oleshky,” he said. “Our main task is to ensure that this aid reaches every person who needs it. We pay special attention to the elderly, people with disabilities.”

Lubinets said the convoy had been organised in Armyansk, a town in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine located about 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of Oleshky.

The localised ceasefire and the humanitarian mission were brokered by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, who led talks with Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova.

Oleshky, situated just inside Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, drew international attention after its residents became stranded by intense fighting and mined roads, leaving them without adequate food and medicine.

Moscow and Kyiv have observed the truce in and around the devastated city since Tuesday, although both sides remain fully engaged in the wider war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion more than four and a half years ago. Previous ceasefire negotiations between the two countries have either failed or produced truces that quickly collapsed.