Oleshky truce grows to cover all of Kherson as Finland and Norway phone Putin

The local ceasefire that took effect on Tuesday for Russian-occupied Oleshky has been widened to the broader southern Kherson region, the BBC reports. Melania Trump, who helped broker the truce together with Pope Leo XIV, said the area had been enlarged to give aid convoys safe passage. Both sides report no violations. According to a Ukrainian parliamentary leader, the truce runs until Sunday evening, 1 November. Aid deliveries are to be followed on Friday by evacuations for anyone who wants to leave. An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people are still trapped in Oleshky without electricity, gas or water.

Meanwhile, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre spent an hour and a half on the phone with Vladimir Putin. It was the first direct contact between European leaders and the Russian president since Emmanuel Macron spoke to him in July last year, VRT NWS writes. They wanted to pass on messages ahead of the talks planned for early November in Abu Dhabi. La Libre reports that Stubb called the conversation frank and substantive, while Støre spoke of big differences, according to the BBC. Putin repeated that a lasting peace is only possible if Russia's interests are fully recognised.

Not everyone in Europe is pleased. De Standaard writes of European irritation: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was sceptical, and according to the BBC Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson believes Europe should act together. US President Donald Trump, for his part, told reporters that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is coming soon, RTBF reports, although the Kremlin has so far only been willing to host such a summit in Moscow.