Melania Trump said on Monday that the ceasefire covering the southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky has ended, describing the humanitarian operation there as a success that delivered essential aid and allowed almost 800 people to be evacuated. The US first lady announced the conclusion of the mission in a post on X, according to Sky TG24.
Oleshky lies south of the Dnipro River in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region. The pause in fighting was arranged to let civilians leave and aid reach those who stayed.
In the same message, the first lady said that, on behalf of the United States, she congratulated Russia and Ukraine on their leadership and cooperation during the truce, and expressed hope that it could serve as a basis for a lasting peace, Sky TG24 reports.
Why it matters
The Oleshky operation was one of the few arrangements in recent months in which both sides publicly cooperated on civilian welfare. Its end returns the area to active hostilities, and the competing accounts of how the pause was used point to how difficult it will be to build anything broader on the episode.
The Vatican also weighed in. Vatican News reported that Pope Leo XIV called the evacuation a gesture of humanity that was the right thing to do, and urged that it now lead to concrete peace initiatives.
Kyiv says the corridor was used for military ends
Ukrainian officials have disputed the character of the truce. According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, Kyiv said Russian forces used the pause to strengthen their positions.
Sky TG24 cited reporting by the British broadcaster Sky News, whose journalist Stuart Ramsey reviewed drone footage recorded between 27 October and the night before the ceasefire ended. According to that account, Russian forces used the humanitarian corridor for military purposes before, during and after the aid operation.
The footage is said to show Moscow's troops moving heavy vehicles into Oleshky and nearby villages, along with weapons, ammunition, military personnel and food. Soldiers were seen going house to house looking for new positions and retaking ground they had previously lost, according to the same reporting.
The Sky News account also said Russian troops removed the bodies of civilians killed by shelling and mines from the hospital morgue, placing them in white bags and loading them onto a truck.
Attacks resume and a cyberattack hits an alert app
Local authorities in Kherson said Russian forces resumed strikes on the region after the truce lapsed. In a statement cited by Sky TG24, they said a drone hit a car in the city's Korabelny district at around 8am, injuring a woman aged 62 and a man aged 73.
Separately, Russia's emergencies ministry said its app for warning the public about air raids had been hit by what it called a massive cyberattack. In a post on Telegram, the ministry said hackers had been able to send false information to the population. Ukraine's air force had earlier warned that the Air Alert application could display incorrect information because of possible hostile interference, according to Sky TG24.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces struck overnight a depot for Neptune anti-ship missile launchers in the Odesa region, near the village of Tuzla, and also attacked a vessel carrying supplies for the Ukrainian army about 58 kilometres south of Odesa, Sky TG24 reported.
Aid missions to continue, and a Zelensky condition on refineries
Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner, said Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to keep holding regular joint humanitarian missions for civilians living near the front line. She said the understanding was reached with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, after the operation in Oleshky, which she referred to by its Russian name, Aleshki. Writing on the platform Max, she said people near the front need sustained support and that the town should be a first step, according to Sky TG24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv would stop striking Russian oil refineries, as requested by US President Donald Trump, if Washington supplies Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine, Sky TG24 reported.
On the diplomatic front, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no concrete preparations are under way for a trilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November, according to Sky TG24.
Russian Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu, a former defence minister, said Western pressure is growing as Moscow nears the end of what it calls its special military operation. Quoted by Interfax, he said the aim of such actions is to contain Russia, and argued that attempts to do so become more aggressive the closer Moscow comes to what he described as the successful completion of the operation. He also accused many European leaders of choosing military escalation while ignoring the needs of their own citizens, Sky TG24 reported.
What to watch is whether the two sides follow through on the promised regular aid missions near the front line, and whether the Oleshky arrangement leaves any template for further pauses.
