Ukraine war briefing: Oleshky truce shows de-escalation is possible, says Zelenskyy

Summary

Ukrainian president says Moscow must be shown that support for Kyiv will not diminish; US says interest also growing for limited Black Sea ceasefire. What we know on day 1,712 Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Oleshky ceasefire shows that de-escalation steps with Russia are possible, while the US says there is growing interest for a truce in the Black Sea. Zelenskyy said the humanitarian operation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky “clearly demonstrates that de-escalation steps are possible when Russia is the one put in a position where it has to take steps toward de-escalation”. The Ukrainian president also said at a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Istanbul on Saturday: “Strong decisions are needed to bring peace. At every level, Russia must be sent signals that there is no alternative to peace and that support for Ukraine will not diminish. This is all the more important given that a humanitarian operation took place in Oleshky, in the Kherson region, over the past few days.” In the US, the secretary of state said there was growing interest in the international community in facilitating a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea to ensure unfettered energy and grain shipments by Russia and Ukraine. Marco Rubio said the US was reviewing proposals by Turkey and India to get grain shipments moving, even ⁠as the US continued to press ⁠for a broader negotiated settlement of the war. There was growing interest – if not momentum – in partial deals such as halting attacks on ships carrying grain and, in some ​cases, energy in the Black Sea, Rubio said ⁠on Saturday. “This is threatening the world for food security and ‌some energy security as well,” he told reporters in Atlanta after a ‌two-day G20 foreign ministers’ meeting that involved Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov despite objections from European and Canadian leaders . Zelenskyy said at the Istanbul news conference that he and Erdoğan had discussed the prospects of holding trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US in early November, as well as other possibilities “including ways to involve Türkiye and all of Europe”. Erdoğan, meanwhile, said attacks aimed at civilian vessels in the Black Sea were unacceptable, urging Russia and Ukraine to “act responsibly”. “We cannot accept these attacks under any circumstances, regardless of who carries them out or what justification is offered.” Talks aimed at restoring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea would continue, Erdoğan added. Zelenskyy accused Russia of making the situation in the Black Sea difficult. In Ukraine, evacuees from Oleshky were reunited with loved ones after crossing into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday amid the US-brokered localised ceasefire. Evacuees wrapped in Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to be reunited with family members. Evacuees told Agence France-Presse that some residents had to eat grass and dogs to survive and that their rescue following a humanitarian truce was a “blessing”. “People were cooking grass. They’d grow it as there was nothing to eat,” said Valera, a 29-year-old former resident who did not give his last name. “Lots of people were blown up. There were piles of bodies on the roads, loads of cars. In short, it was brutal ... terrifying.” The truce in the southern Kherson region was expected to continue until Sunday evening. Russia said on Sunday a drone had struck an “industrial enterprise” east of Moscow overnight, after Ukraine claimed it had hit a major oil refinery . Gleb Nikitin, governor of Nizhny Novgorod region, reported a “massive drone attack” during the night in which an “industrial enterprise in the Kstovo district sustained significant damage”. Preliminary information suggested there were no casualties, he added, without specifying the plant’s activities. Ukrainian media reported an attack on the Kstovo oil refinery, calling it “one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, producing fuel and lubricants”. On Saturday Ukraine’s ‌general staff said the military hit a major missile ⁠fuel ⁠producer in ​Russia’s Rostov region overnight, ⁠causing a fire and damaging four ⁠production facilities. Continue reading...

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