Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory Saturday after a temporary ceasefire opened a humanitarian route out of the devastated city in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region. At the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Chernihiv region, evacuees stepped off buses wrapped in Ukrainian flags and embraced relatives, while volunteers provided coffee, food and assistance.
The evacuation followed a six-day local truce that began Tuesday and was scheduled to run through Sunday evening. Before the operation, officials estimated that about 2,000 people remained in Oleshky, a frontline city across the Dnipro River from Kherson. Residents were offered the choice of traveling to Ukrainian- or Russian-controlled territory, or staying behind while food and medical supplies were replenished.
The journey to Ukrainian-held territory ran through Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian officials said evacuees traveled by bus to Anapa in southern Russia, flew to Belarus and then crossed into northern Ukraine. The route from Oleshky to Anapa is about 450 kilometers through Russian-held Crimea. A convoy of 25 buses, ambulances, trucks and other vehicles entered Oleshky after roads were cleared of mines and delivered aid before residents began leaving.
Neither government disclosed the final number of people evacuated, but Melania Trump said the convoy could safely carry more than 750 people. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Russian Ombudswoman Yana Lantratova took part in negotiations and the mission, while the White House said Trump helped establish the ceasefire to permit aid deliveries and civilian evacuation. The agreement said residents who stayed would receive humanitarian support, but some chose not to leave because of their homes or animals. The operation offered a rare opening for civilians trapped by the war, while fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine.