Oleshky evacuees reach Ukrainian-held territory after ceasefire

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said his delegation had reached Oleshky on Friday, 30 October. Ukrainian and Russian officials said an evacuation had begun from the Russian-occupied city, where residents have faced severe shortages of food, medicine and basic utilities. Aid had also arrived, Ukrainian MP David Arachamia said.

Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, said 25 buses with a combined capacity of at least 750 seats had been prepared, alongside transport for people with limited mobility. The seats are a measure of capacity, not a count of people who have left. Officials had announced a 14:00 deadline for residents to board on Friday, although the Associated Press reported that it was unclear which local time zone they meant.

The operation follows a local truce announced to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuation. Lubinets said the pause began on 27 October in designated areas and was still holding when he reached Oleshky. It was due to last until 1 November; its precise geographical extent has not been established. Fighting has continued elsewhere in Ukraine.

For residents choosing to go to Ukrainian-held territory, the planned route runs away from the nearby Ukrainian-held bank of the Dnipro: through occupied territory to Anapa in Russia, then by air to Gomel in Belarus and across the border into Ukraine. The BBC reported that some residents had decided to remain. One woman told it she would not leave because her animals could not be taken.

Both ombudsmen said residents could choose whether to leave and where to go. Ksenia Arkhipova, a former Oleshky resident and evacuation volunteer, told the Associated Press that Russian troops were pressuring people to go to Russia rather than Ukraine. Her account raises a concern about how that choice works in practice, but does not establish how many residents may have faced pressure.

The number of people who have left remains unclear. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi apologised for giving an incorrect figure for the number *planned* to be evacuated and said exact figures were not yet available. That withdrawn figure cannot be treated as a count of completed evacuations. The Ukrainian government said it would release official figures after the operation was completed.

Update

Evacuees from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky crossed from Belarus into the Chernihiv region on Saturday, 31 October, after a local ceasefire allowed them to leave the frontline area.

Families greeted relatives at the border, some after years apart. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the arrival and said the evacuees would receive assistance.

Food and basic supplies had become scarce in Oleshky. The BBC reported that some residents had resorted to cooking garden weeds. Ivan Yevhenovych, who left the city, told the Associated Press that staple food had largely run out by spring and that drones made it difficult to move around the streets.

The ceasefire allowed roads to be cleared of mines and humanitarian supplies to be delivered. Zelensky thanked the United States and First Lady Melania Trump for helping to broker the arrangement.

The journey took evacuees by bus through occupied Crimea to Anapa in Russia, then by plane to Gomel in Belarus before they travelled overland into Ukraine, according to the BBC and Reuters.

Ukrainian authorities have not given an exact number of arrivals. The BBC reported that 25 buses left Oleshky with space for 750 people, but that was their capacity, not a passenger count. On Friday, Ukraine’s prime minister apologised for giving an incorrect figure for the number of people planned to be evacuated.

Some residents stayed in Oleshky. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, said some evacuees had been taken to temporary accommodation in Simferopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea.