Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky have crossed into Ukrainian-held territory CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine -- Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory Saturday in a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago. Evacuees wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and reunited with family members. Volunteers with hand-drawn welcome signs handed out coffee to the weary travelers who had traveled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus.
Residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and flashlights to greet the convoy. Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who helped her to flee. And a deep bow to them, and a deep bow to their parents, for having such children.
I am proud, I am simply proud.” The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region began early Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening. The White House has said U.S. first lady Melania Trump helped to broker the localized deal, while Pope Leo XIV pressed Russia and Ukraine to allow aid deliveries and evacuations. Relatives and volunteers with the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Central Kitchen welcomed the evacuees as they arrived at the border, ready to provide aid and food, including for their pets.
Holding a cigarette between shaking fingers, 48-year-old Ivan Yevhenovych described his last months in Oleshky. There were a lot of drones. It was hard to move around the streets,” he said.
People had a little bit of their own reserves. We are thrifty people.” He said landmines or drone strikes were killing residents every day. An estimated 2,000 people remained in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold.
They were offered the choice of being evacuated to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. Melania Trump posted on social media Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people. Liza Paliy, 19, waited at the border for her father, whom she last saw more than 2½ years earlier when she fled the occupied city with her mother and sister.
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