United Nations officials on Friday said a temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, Ukraine, offers hope for civilians as attacks on humanitarian vehicles and civilian infrastructure continued.
The ceasefire, brokered by United States First Lady Melania Trump and announced Oct. 23, aims to relieve a humanitarian emergency for trapped residents on the Russian-controlled side of the Dnipro River. The pause is scheduled to end on the evening of Nov. 1.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said the ceasefire should pave the way for vital aid and humanitarian access on both sides of the frontline, stressing that people wishing to leave must be able to do so safely and voluntarily. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the organization did not play a role in the evacuation of hundreds of people from Oleshky, but is providing humanitarian aid to evacuees as they reach the Ukrainian side.
On Thursday, two humanitarian vehicles came under drone attack, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A strike on a marked civilian bus in the Zaporizhzhia region killed a woman and injured the driver and passengers. In Sloviansk, an armored evacuation vehicle was hit, injuring two evacuees.
Ukrainian authorities reported strikes over the past day in the Chernihiv region killed two children and injured 37 people, while attacks in Kremenchuk killed three people and injured 28. Separately, attacks on energy infrastructure left 190,000 consumers in the Dnipro region without electricity on Friday morning.
Dujarric said the UN Secretary-General strongly condemned a Thursday Russian drone strike on the main railway station in Dnipro that killed civilians, including children. Media reports indicate the death toll from the station attack stands at 15. Dujarric said the strike followed Russian attacks on cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia, and said all of these attacks are violations of international humanitarian law.