Melania Trump-Brokered Local Ceasefire Begins as Nordic Leaders Call Putin, Zelenskyy

Mykolaiv: Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, ahead of 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.

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 began on Feb. 24, 2022.

The war launched by Russia set most of Europe against Moscow, with Western officials accusing Putin of masterminding a campaign of disruption across the continent.

After their conversation with Putin, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy's office.

A ceasefire takes hold in a southern Ukraine city, officials say A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-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 favor.

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 say Putin call was ‘frank and substantive’ The phone calls with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders followed an Oct. 20 meeting in Oslo between the two Nordic leaders, Zelenskyy and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Stubb and Støre initiated the call with Putin to discuss the war and upcoming trilateral talks involving delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States that are expected to take place next month in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The talks will seek to lay the groundwork for detailed peace negotiations later.

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.

But Denmark’s prime minister said she was “very skeptical” of reaching out directly to Putin, saying she sees “no signs that Russia desires peace with Europe” and noting that the call was not coordinated with other European leaders.

“I believe we should keep Europe united, rather than going it alone,” Mette Frederiksen said.

The Kremlin gave no hint that Moscow is ready to back down from its key demands.

A statement after the call said that “achieving a just and long-term peace is possible only if the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation are fully and unconditionally taken into account.”

Zelenskyy said Russian attacks, such as halting relentless strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, must stop in order to open a path to peace.

“There must be peace, de-escalation is needed, and Russia must stop dragging out the war,” Zelenskyy said on X.

Melania Trump and Pope Leo wor ked 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.

The partly occupied Kherson region of Ukraine where Oleshky is located is notorious for the dangers of Russian drone attacks on soldiers and civilians.

Pope Leo XIV spoke earlier this month with Zelenskyy and 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.

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.

Lull in Oleshky is 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 kilometers (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.

Russian ballistic missiles damaged the grounds of a university in Kyiv, killing one person and leaving 12 wounded, city officials said. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, authorities said that attacks late Monday killed two people and wounded four others.

In total, Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones at 11 regions of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.