Evacuated Ukrainians from Russian-occupied Oleshky arrive in Belarus

Authorities confirmed that individuals recently evacuated from Oleshky, a devastated city under Russian occupation, have reached Belarus and anticipate returning to Ukrainian soil later today.

State media outlets in Belarus alongside high-ranking Ukrainian officials verified that aircraft transporting these citizens touched down in Gomel during the early hours of Saturday. The last, fourth plane landed in Gomel (Belarus).

Return Journey Details

David Arakhamia, a prominent Ukrainian figure, stated that the final aircraft had arrived and that the entire evacuee group, accompanied by officials, would soon cross back into Ukraine.

According to reports from Belta, the state-run Belarusian agency, buses carrying the population departed the airport perimeter and proceeded toward the border.

Frontline Ceasefire

A humanitarian pause began across Kherson on Tuesday, marking the initial period of calm in four years following the onset of the full-scale Russian military action in February 2022. Providing the first few days of peace in the area in four years, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a humanitarian ceasefire took effect across the frontline region of Kherson on Tuesday. Before the war, Oleshky was home to 24,000 people, but it was seized by Russia during the first days of its full-scale invasion.

Severe desperation had previously gripped the urban center, where restricted supply access combined with heavily mined evacuation routes and continuous drone threats to block safe departure.

An earlier survivor recounted to reporters that escaping weeks prior required traversing fifteen miles of hazardous minefields on foot. According to one resident who fled the city three weeks earlier, He had walked through 24km (15 miles) of minefields to get to safety.

The current truce enabled route clearance operations, scheduled to persist until Sunday evening. The ceasefire allowed the road out of the city to be cleared of mines and will remain in place until the end of Sunday 1 November.

Evacuation Logistics

Departures occurred during a strict four-hour window as a fleet of twenty-five transport vehicles, accommodating up to seven hundred fifty passengers alongside specialized medical transport for vulnerable individuals, departed on Friday afternoon. With space for 750 people, left the town on Friday afternoon – along with ambulances for people with limited mobility, residents had a four-hour window to leave before a convoy of 25 buses.

Despite complete infrastructure destruction leaving the municipality without power, water, or gas, hundreds chose to remain behind. Water and electricity, with many resorting to cooking garden weeds to survive, residents of the frontline city had been trapped without food.

Oleshky held a pre-conflict population numbering twenty-four thousand before falling to invading forces early in the campaign.

Dmytro Lubinets, serving as Ukraine’s ombudsman for human rights, noted that citizens opting to stay behind “will receive all the necessary humanitarian assistance”.

While friendly military lines sit a mere three miles away, evacuees faced a complex transit route through occupied zones to Anapa in southern Russia before boarding flights to Gomel.

Destroyed river crossings over the Dnipro further complicated regional geography, leaving surrounding banks heavily mined.

Official Visits and Controversy

Lubinets journeyed alongside his Russian opposite number, Yana Lantratova, departing from Armiansk located within the Crimean peninsula on Friday.

This trip marked a historic milestone, making Lubinets the initial Ukrainian government representative to enter occupied areas since hostilities commenced.

Defending the diplomatic engagement, Lubinets emphasized that coordinating directly with Lantratova remained essential for preserving human lives.

Nevertheless, domestic critics expressed deep discomfort witnessing a top official pose alongside a representative linked to occupying authorities.

Meanwhile, Moscow announced plans to deliver substantial relief supplies, totaling dozens of tonnes, dedicated to those remaining in the settlement.