Ukrainians evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky reached Belarus on Saturday morning and were expected to return to Ukraine later that day, authorities said. Their departure on Friday followed a local ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, allowing residents to leave a city devastated by the war.
Belarusian state media and senior Ukrainian official David Arakhamia reported that aircraft carrying the evacuees had landed in Gomel. Arakhamia said the fourth and final plane had arrived and that the residents would reach Ukrainian territory within hours, accompanied by a Ukrainian delegation. Belarusian state news agency Belta subsequently reported that buses carrying them had departed Gomel airport for the Ukrainian border.
The humanitarian ceasefire began on Tuesday across the frontline region of Kherson. It brought the area its first few days of peace in four years, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The pause enabled crews to clear mines from the road out of Oleshky and is due to continue until the end of Sunday, 1 November.
Residents were given four hours to leave before 25 buses departed Oleshky on Friday afternoon. The convoy had capacity for 750 people, while ambulances were also provided for those with limited mobility. Although Ukrainian military positions are only 5km, or 3.1 miles, from the city, the evacuation route first took residents further into Russian-occupied territory. They then travelled to Anapa in southern Russia before flying to Gomel.
Several hundred residents are understood to have chosen to remain in Oleshky despite extensive destruction and the absence of gas, electricity and running water. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Friday morning that those staying would receive the humanitarian assistance they needed. Russia said on Thursday that it had prepared aid amounting to dozens of tonnes, including food, medicines, hygiene supplies and generator fuel.
Lubinets visited Oleshky on Friday alongside his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova. The two travelled from Armiansk on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. His visit made him the first Ukrainian official to enter Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine since the war began.
Arranging the Oleshky ceasefire required close cooperation between Lubinets and Lantratova, which the Ukrainian ombudsman said was necessary to save lives. However, some Ukrainians reacted with dismay to seeing him beside a representative of the Russian occupying power, whose actions have killed many Oleshky residents and made conditions unbearable for those remaining.
