A rare local cease-fire in Oleshky is set to start early Tuesday to help trapped civilians. About 2,000 people face starvation amid constant bombardment. Volunteer Ksenia Arkhipova said, "Every three minutes, people message and call me about evacuation." Many residents are now rushing to register for transport out today.
Many people left in Oleshky, where bombardment is constant, have run out of food. A truce set to begin early Tuesday is supposed to allow aid in and civilians out.
A rare local cease-fire in Ukraine is expected to take effect early Tuesday morning, to allow aid delivery and evacuation in a Russian-occupied frontline city where about 2,000 civilians are trapped, threatened by starvation and constant bombardment.
The plight of the city, Oleshky, has drawn international attention. Melania Trump announced the local truce on Friday after negotiation with both the Russian and Ukrainian governments. A week earlier, Pope Leo XIV, just three days after surgery for lung cancer, spoke with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and called for a cease-fire to enable an evacuation there.
Ukrainian officials, volunteers and relatives of people in Oleshky joined a frenzy of messages, calls and announcements to organize residents to register for transport out of the city.
"Every three minutes, people message and call me about evacuation," said Ksenia Arkhipova, a Ukrainian volunteer worker from Oleshky who has been helping with coordination plans from elsewhere in Ukraine.
People were asking her if many others had signed up for the evacuation, and when she said they had, they asked to join, too, she said. By midday Monday, she said she had gathered 200 names on a list and had some 300 more people she wanted to contact.
"They gave us so little time," she said of the Friday announcement.