Hundreds Evacuate Ukrainian City Under Ceasefire Mediated by Melania Trump
Hundreds of residents from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine began an evacuation on Friday, marking the successful implementation of a ceasefire agreement negotiated by former first lady Melania Trump. The operation offers a rare moment of relief for roughly 2,000 people, including 50 children, who have remained trapped in the heavily damaged city for months amid severe shortages of essential supplies. According to children are trapped in these conditions too,” Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister,, Earlier this month. The people in Oleshky are caught in the middle, as the two sides fire at each other. Lubinets’ Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, was also present in Oleshky, and the two were seen in videos standing next to each other while talking to local residents. The ceasefire set to expire on Sunday.
Ukrainian parliamentarian Davyd Arakhamia confirmed via Telegram that a delegation, alongside the evacuees, has departed the region. Because evacuation routes directly across the Dnipro River into Ukrainian-held territory remain impassable due to extensive mining and drone activity, the group is traveling through the occupied Crimean Peninsula toward Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region. From that point, they are scheduled to fly to Belarus before continuing their journey home by bus. A charge Moscow has denied, evidence has pointed to Russia being responsible for an explosion that destroyed the dam. For many, this is exasperated by the fact that they cannot take their animals with them.
The current humanitarian relief efforts involve teams from both Russia and Ukraine working in tandem to assist those choosing to leave while providing aid to residents who have opted to stay. Notably, Ukraine’s ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, traveled directly to Oleshky to oversee the process, marking the first time a senior Ukrainian official has openly visited occupied territory since the start of the conflict in April 2022. According to Lubinets, the operation utilizes 25 buses capable of transporting 750 people. It’s very hard,” a woman in Oleshky who chose to remain anonymous told Ukrainian television. “Constantly in the dark. Maybe we would have stayed longer, but now that’s it, if we were in good health. There is almost nothing left to eat. Trump has been previously involved in securing the return to Ukraine of several Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia after the war started.
The fragile truce, which began Tuesday, followed weeks of diplomatic efforts. Melania Trump announced her role as the exclusive intermediary last week, stating she engaged directly with both Ukrainian and Russian leadership to secure terms. Ukrainian officials, who had seen previous evacuation attempts rejected by Moscow, noted that coordination efforts gained momentum in September, eventually leading to a phone call between the first lady’s representatives and the respective heads of state.
Conditions within Oleshky had reached a critical state. The town has been under continuous occupation since the initial stages of the war and suffered catastrophic flooding following the 2023 collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam. Residents have reported living in darkness without consistent food, clean water, or medical supplies. Testimonies from the ground describe citizens surviving on grass and weeds, a situation that triggered international appeals from faith leaders and humanitarian organizations. According to the town was, By Ukrainian authorities to have ran out of food and other supplies in September, with no access to electricity, gas, medicine and other essentials. Everyone will be provided with such an opportunity.”.
Despite the opening of a corridor, not all residents are leaving. Some elderly citizens and those unable to travel are choosing to remain in their homes, while a demining operation—which unfortunately resulted in the deaths of two individuals—continues to clear the access routes. The military significance of the town remains high, as it serves as a forward position for Russian forces directly across the front line from Ukrainian defensive positions. Making an escape impossible – until the intervention from Trump helped to make the evacuations possible, all access routes were either heavily mined or swarming with drones.
While President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope that this localized ceasefire could provide a blueprint for similar humanitarian corridors elsewhere along the front line, he maintained that the broader conflict must conclude. For the time being, the operation in Oleshky remains a rare humanitarian success in a region where roughly 40% of the prewar population of 24,000 had already fled during the early months of the fighting. Some 40% of the town’s prewar population of around 24,000 managed to flee to Ukraine-controlled territory when it was still possible early in the fighting, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-base. Further destruction came in the subsequent years of heavy fighting in the area. According to “It is important that Kherson has found this much-needed calm,” Zelensky, In his nightly address on Friday. “Russia must end this war of its own making.”. US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has recently held a meeting with Zelensky in Norway before flying to St.
