A ceasefire in a devastated Ukrainian city holds for its first 30 hours, officials say

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — A six-day ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine held for its first day and night, officials said Wednesday, but Moscow and Kyiv continued to batter each other elsewhere.

The localized truce in the devastated southern city of Oleshky began Tuesday and is due to last through Sunday as a planned humanitarian operation races to get its about 2,000 remaining residents urgently needed food and medicine, as well as evacuate those who want to leave.

If the ceasefire holds, it will be the first time since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor more than 4 ½ years ago that the two sides have observed a significant truce. Previous attempts to stop the fighting have either failed to take hold or quickly unraveled.

The development coincided with U.S.-led plans to bring Moscow and Kyiv officials back to the table next month for technical talks on how to move forward on ending the war, even though neither side shows signs of backing down from their key demands.

Russia’s ombudsperson Yana Lantratova and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsperson Dmytro Lubinets both said Wednesday there had been no ceasefire violations in Oleshky for 30 hours.

The plight of the city in Ukraine's southern Kherson region caught the attention of U.S. first lady Melania Trump, and the White House said she brokered the humanitarian mission.

Pope Leo XIV also spoke this month with presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin of Russia, urging them to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians, the Vatican said.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful to Melania Trump for her role in halting the fighting in and around Oleshky, where she says humanitarian corridors are being established to take people out.

“We are grateful that they are organizing this possibility to evacuate people,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine was ready to receive evacuees from the town.

“Her personal involvement is of great importance to the entire process,” Russia’s Lantratova said.

Both sides are eager to win U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval as he pushes for an elusive peace settlement.

A Russian drone strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight wounded five people, including a four-year-old child, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

The jet-powered drone attack started a major fire that set alight an apartment building, private house and an industrial building, the emergency services said.

In Russia, meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 531 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday through early Wednesday.

Officials said apartment buildings and industrial infrastructure in two regions were targeted, injuring five people.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine