MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — A localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect early Tuesday ahead of a humanitarian mission led by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, as missile attacks resumed in Kyiv. Meanwhile, Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials said, in their first-known direct contact since shortly after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After the conversation with Putin, the two Nordic leaders had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy’s office. Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city Tuesday, before a planned humanitarian mission brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, but Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime. The local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russia-occupied city of Oleshky later this week. The situation in Oleshky is desperate, with food and medical supplies running perilously low for the up to 2,000 people still there, as drones and land mines restrict movement. Deep mistrust between Russia and Ukraine, as Moscow’s full-scale invasion nears the five-year mark in February, has undermined previous attempts at limited ceasefires, which quickly unraveled or never took hold. The humanitarian truce was a high-stakes operation for both Moscow and Kyiv, with both sides keen to win U.S. President Donald Trump’s favour. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators as well as the militaries of the two countries confirmed in separate statements that the Oleshky ceasefire had begun. Nordic leaders speak by phone to Putin and Zelenskyy, officials say The call, confirmed by the offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, followed an Oct. 20 meeting in Oslo between the two Nordic leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. The call was held in consultation with Ukraine, according to the official statements by the two Nordic countries. Stubb and Støre initiated the call to discuss the war and upcoming trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States that are expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in November. The two European leaders spoke on behalf of their own countries and not the whole of Europe, the statements said. “The discussion was frank and substantive,” Stubb said. “We are neighboring countries to Russia. The outcome of this war will have a direct impact on our and the broader European security. Ending the war requires direct discussions.” “The war comes with enormous human and material costs,” Støre said. “The suffering and destruction will impact generations. In the call we stressed the importance of de-escalation.” Melania Trump and Pope Leo worked for a truce in Oleshky According to her office, Melania Trump led talks with civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine after meeting with U.N. officials who briefed the American first lady on the situation in Oleshky. Up to 2,000 people are stranded in the city, unable to leave because of explosive mines and drone attacks in the area, according to the U.N. The partly occupied Kherson region of Ukraine where Oleshky is located is notorious for the dangers of Russian drone attacks on soldiers and civilians. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “so far there have been no reports of violations.” Pope Leo XIV spoke earlier this month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging them to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians, the Vatican said. Negotiators involved in the aid mission said doctors, medicines, food supplies and water would be taken to Oleshky before evacuation corridors are opened. The Kremlin said at the time that Putin voiced support for the Vatican’s plea, and an agreement was reached to coordinate efforts in this regard. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the humanitarian crisis. Russia, as the occupying power, must under international law ensure that civilians under its occupation live safely. Ukraine has repeatedly tried to negotiate a humanitarian corridor for evacuations and aid delivery with Moscow. The aid mission is planned ahead of a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine expected next month that will seek to lay the groundwork for detailed peace negotiations later. Lull in Oleshky uneasy, a Ukrainian official tells The AP The local ceasefire is due to last through Saturday, or longer if needed. Its geographical scope was unclear, though it was centered on Oleshky and other nearby parts of the Kherson region. Oleshky is about 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Kyiv, where the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces. Oleshky sits across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative capital. Russian forces seized Kherson in the early stages of the 2022 full-scale invasion, but retreated across the river several months later. The Ukrainian-held side of the Kherson region was quiet Tuesday. Only Russian reconnaissance drones were in the sky, local authorities said, though they cautioned it was too early to draw any conclusions and that they didn’t trust Russia. “It’s too early to say. Let’s wait and see, because you can’t trust the enemy, especially the Russians,” Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson city administration, told The Associated Press. “There have been previously announced ceasefires more than once, and they had no effect on Kherson … and, let’s say, a lull like this is sometimes even frightening.” Shanko acknowledged the situation was unusual. He typically travels with a portable drone detector that constantly picks up drones overhead, but it had gone silent. He said he still kept glancing at it, but it showed nothing. The quiet stands in contrast to daily life in the city, where people are wounded or killed nearly every day, he said. City services plan to use the pause to carry out utility work that is usually too dangerous because of constant drone activity. Russian missiles kill at least 3 civilians in Ukraine, officials say Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kyiv and air alerts sounded in multiple parts of the country. Late Monday, the capital also came under attack, when Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and leaving 10 injured, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, authorities said attacks late Monday killed two people and injured four. “It is important that the world sees that Russia is showing nothing but a desire to kill and continue waging war,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post shortly afterward. ___ Susie Blann and Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report from Kyiv. By Hanna Arhirova
