Follow-Up: Russia Says Ukraine Hit Oleshky With 18 Artillery Strikes and More Than 120 Drone Attacks in a Week Ahead of October 27 Ceasefire
Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement on October 26 that Ukrainian forces had repeatedly struck the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky in Ukraine's southern Kherson region over the past week: since October 19, Ukraine had shelled the town 18 times and carried out more than 120 drone attacks on the town and the main roads around it, thwarting deliveries of food and medicine and stopping people from leaving. According to Reuters, the local ceasefire agreed by Russia and Ukraine for Oleshky will go into effect on October 27, allowing aid deliveries and the evacuation of residents through humanitarian corridors.
Reuters said it could not independently verify the Russian assertion, and there was no immediate response from Ukraine, which has in the past accused Russia of not letting aid in or people out. The Kremlin said on October 26 that the truce might serve as a precedent for similar localised ceasefires in the future, Reuters reported.
Russia and Ukraine announced the Oleshky ceasefire on October 23, an arrangement brokered by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump with the additional involvement of Pope Leo XIV. Oleshky lies on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, opposite Ukrainian-held Kherson city, and has been held by Russian troops since the first days of the February 2022 invasion; it was hit hard by flooding after the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam in 2023. The United States has said only a few thousand people remain in Oleshky, from a prewar population of 24,000, with severe shortages of food and medicine reported; some residents have walked about 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the next village to stock up, a journey locals call the "road of death."
Related: Melania Trump Secures Oleshky Ceasefire Between Russia and Ukraine, White House Says
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：跨第聂伯河的安东尼夫卡公路桥在战火中受损，该桥连接 Kherson 市与 Oleshky 一侧（资料图）。乌克兰国防部新闻机构 ArmyInform 发布，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The damaged Antonivka Road Bridge over the Dnipro River, connecting Kherson city with the Oleshky side (file photo). Released by ArmyInform, the news agency of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-26Follow-Up: Russia Says Ukraine Hit Oleshky With 18 Artillery Strikes and More Than 120 Drone Attacks in a Week Ahead of October 27 CeasefireThis story
- 2026-10-27Follow-up: Russia and Ukraine Begin Localised Ceasefire Around Oleshky on October 27 for Aid and Evacuations
- 2026-10-27Follow-up: Melania Trump Says Oleshky Ceasefire Has Expanded Across Kherson Region, Two Days Ahead of Schedule
- 2026-10-31Ukraine: Oleshky Ceasefire Holds as Two Aid Vehicles Come Under Drone Attack
- 2026-10-31Follow-Up: Planes Carrying Evacuees From Oleshky Land in Belarus, Bound for Ukraine
