After years under fire, a rare quiet settles over Ukrainian city as truce holds

A planned six-day ceasefire brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump has brought rare quiet to Kherson, the Ukrainian-held city on the Dnipro River. The pause began at 3 a.m. Tuesday and is tied to a humanitarian aid mission linked to Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town across the river. The calm is meant to allow medicine, food and water to be delivered before evacuation corridors are opened later in the week. In Oleshky, supplies are scarce for up to 2,000 people, while drones and land mines limit movement. In Kherson, residents used the lull to repair drone-protection netting and return briefly to normal life.