Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky have been reunited with their families after crossing into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday. The major rescue operation began on Friday and was carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four and a half years ago. Evacuees wrapped in Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to be reunited with family members.
Volunteers with hand-drawn welcome signs handed coffee to the weary people who had travelled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus. Residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and torches 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 on Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening. The White House said the first lady Melania Trump helped broker the localised 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 on Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.
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