Russia has refused Ukraine's offer to extend the local ceasefire around Oleshky in the Kherson region, a senior Ukrainian official has told the AFP news agency — so the pause in fighting, the longest of the war, ends at 10:59 p.m. Kyiv time on Sunday. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry had offered to extend the truce; the official said Moscow did not want to extend it. Russia has issued no statement of its own on the extension.
The truce, brokered by First Lady Melania Trump and credited to her by both Moscow and Kyiv, began early on Tuesday and held for six days without either side reporting a violation of the Kherson pause itself. About 2,000 civilians were still living in Russian-occupied Oleshky when it took effect, down from 24,000 before the invasion, and the First Lady had said about 750 people were due to be evacuated. Hundreds crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday, travelling through Belarus, while residents could also choose Russian-controlled territory or stay in Oleshky; those who stayed were resupplied with food, clean water, medicine and fuel during the pause.
For the families who got out — evacuees ranged from a 1-year-old to a 94-year-old — the six days ended years of isolation, food shortages and shelling, and Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, had hoped the arrangement could be repeated elsewhere. For the civilians still in Oleshky, the refusal means the corridor closes with no guarantee of further supplies. For Washington, the episode showed an American-brokered local pause could hold and move people to safety; whether it can be revived now rests on Moscow.
Hundreds of people evacuated from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky crossed back into Ukraine on Saturday afternoon, ending a long journey home under the ceasefire First Lady Melania Trump helped to negotiate — and families who had been separated for years were reunited at the border.
Among them were Dmytro and Larisa, both 54. Dmytro, a Ukrainian soldier, had counted 1,711 days since he last saw his wife. When the bus carrying Larisa reached the border between Belarus and Ukraine, the couple embraced wrapped in Ukrainian flags. Larisa has lost a third of her body weight under the occupation. Asked how she was, she spoke about others still suffering: "We're waiting for all this to end, for peace to come."
The journey out took days. After a two-day demining operation was completed on Thursday, residents who wanted to leave gathered on Friday and travelled through occupied Crimea to Anapa in Russia's Krasnodar region. From there they flew to Gomel in Belarus — the final plane landed on Saturday — and continued by bus to the Ukrainian border, many bringing their pets with them.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the arrival of the evacuees on Telegram, thanking Melania Trump for her help with the mediation. "When the world pays attention, people are saved," he said.
Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets travelled to Oleshky to personally escort the evacuees into Ukrainian-controlled territory — the first senior Ukrainian official to openly travel into the occupied areas since the start of the war. "Now we have a unique positive experience how to negotiate with the Russian side with the coordination role of Melania Trump," he said after crossing. In his own footage from the arrival, a young girl among the evacuees says: "Thank you, Melania Trump, for saving the children of Oleshky."
The evacuees left behind a town that Ukrainian authorities say ran out of food and other supplies in September, with no electricity, gas or medicine. Medical teams were waiting at the border: the director of the Chernihiv Regional Hospital, Andriy Zhydenko, said prolonged malnutrition is the key concern, and that the arrivals include people with injuries, stroke survivors and people with limited mobility who must be fed carefully after starving for so long. Another evacuee, Oleksandr, said he had "never felt better in my life," describing life in Oleshky as living on whatever canned goods and pickles people had left behind.
The evacuation was made possible by the localized ceasefire the White House announced on October 23, under which Russia and Ukraine agreed to halt military action around Oleshky from October 29 so aid could get in and residents who wanted to leave could get out, with Melania Trump working directly with both leaderships as intermediary. Pope Leo XIV had also called for the ceasefire.
For the families involved, the meaning is simple: people who had been trapped without food or medicine are home, fed and treated, and husbands, wives and children separated since the first days of the war are together again. Lubinets said Ukraine has many similar villages in the same situation and hopes this operation becomes the model for more: "Our idea is to continue."
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