Oleshky ceasefire will not bring wider truce with Russia, former Ukrainian PM warns

Humanitarian aid is expected to reach the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshki today as a rare localized ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev enters its fourth day. The truce, which began on Tuesday, has allowed military units to clear landmines ahead of the humanitarian operation. But concerns remain over the fate of civilians trapped in the devastated town, and whether those evacuated will be allowed to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory. For more on this, our correspondent Sasha Vakulina is joining me now in the studio. Good morning, Sasha. So, what do we know about this humanitarian operation expected to begin today? And what about the evacuation of civilians? It is the first operation like that in years, Stefan. Now, first, let's look at Oleshky. Oleshky is a small town in southern Ukraine. It's across the river from... Kherson city, so when Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian forces, Oleshki remained occupied and all the territory around it is heavily mined and this location is something that makes it very very complicated. Thank People in Oleshki, there are about 2,000 residents who stay there. They don't have access to food, they don't have access to medical help, no health you services, there is nothing there. Oleshki was also severely flooded when the Russians blew the Kahovka Dam in Kherson region. very Now they have just a few hours to decide whether they want to leave, given that they might have to go through harsh interrogations much. and filtration camps to reach first Russia-occupied territory before they can go back to Ukraine-controlled territory. They have to make the decision before 2 o'clock in the afternoon local time. If not, if they stay starting from 2.30, they will receive humanitarian aid, but then it is not clear how it will be controlled, how it will be observed. After today, when will be the next humanitarian aid delivery, if there will be any? Now, I discussed this operation with Ukraine's former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who is very skeptical about what's happening in Oleshki today. They actually took all these civilians as hostages. And now they are trading these hostages. They launched a stage operation that those who hold them in captivity are going to provide them some kind of survival. So they brought to this special operation the first lady of the United States, which is Melania Trump. And the good news is that at least they've announced a partial ceasefire. But the bad news is that once again, that they are using these human beings as a shield, as a hostages, as those who would be depicted by the Russian propaganda that have been saved by the egregious Russian military. And in this way, they try actually to buy some kind of positive attitude from the White House. That's my take. Do you trust the fact that the Russian army will allow Ukrainians who are trapped in Oleshky to not only to evacuate, but finally also to evacuate to the territory under Ukrainian control and not to be forcefully deported into Russia? There is no way to trust Russians, period. And they will conduct it as a special propaganda operation. It depends on the White House whether the White House would be really ready to provide a humanitarian support for the Ukrainians and to give the Ukrainians chance to decide whether they want to go back to Ukraine. There is no information so far about any sort of official U.S. mission slash U.S. observers on the ground in Oleshky. Well there is. Newsmax, Fox News will participate in covering this operation. So let me deliver a very clear message to the journalists of Newsmax and Fox News. We kindly ask you folks to be journalists and to tell the truth, but not to parrot the Russian propaganda. This operation, the planned operation in Oleshky, Overstretched, but still, could that be the first step towards any possible ceasefire that is now back on the diplomatic table? My answer would be very short. No. Russia will not agree to the ceasefire? No way. And that's an issue. Look what Russians are telling. They've told that they are ready to resume so-called technical talks. What the hell is technical talks? Putin is ready to end the war on his terms. He is ready to get the peace deal, which is similar to capitulation. Everything he is doing right now is a real way how to buy the time, how to pretend that they want to cut the peace deal, how to bypass sanctions, circumvent sanctions, how to drive the wedge between Americans and Europeans, and actually how to outwit us. This is the plan of Putin. We are Europe. Is it at the table or on the menu? We need to have Europe at the table. And it's up to Americans, let me once again reiterate, Americans, to have their closest ally, which is the European Union, sitting at the table. Who shall represent the European Union? Should it be Antonio Costa? Should it be Kaja Kallas? Who shall be that voice? You remember this notorious phrase of former Secretary of State, whom should I call in Europe? Wow. It's up to the European Union to decide. It could be the president of Finland. It could be the president of the European Commission. We're going to hit the wall because Russians object this. Who cares? But Russians object to anybody. Correct, correct.