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Evacuees from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky have reunited with their families after crossing into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday. The major rescue operation began on Friday under the most significant ceasefire since Russia’s full-scale invasion four and a half years ago.
Emotional Reunions at the Border
Evacuees wrapped in Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to meet their family members. Volunteers holding hand-drawn welcome signs handed out coffee to the weary travelers who arrived by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus, while residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and torches to greet the convoy.
Tetiana Leonidivna, a 71-year-old evacuee, expressed her gratitude to the Ukrainian soldiers who assisted her escape. Through tears, she praised their protective efforts and sent her deep respect to them and their parents.
The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region commenced early Tuesday and was scheduled to run through Sunday evening. The White House reported that First Lady Melania Trump helped broker the localized agreement, and Pope Leo XIV urged both Russia and Ukraine to permit aid deliveries and evacuations.
Relatives and volunteers from the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Central Kitchen welcomed the arrivals at the border to offer aid, food, and provisions for their pets.
Conditions in Oleshky
Ivan Yevhenovych, 48, recounted his final months in Oleshky, stating that conditions were extremely difficult with heavy drone activity making street movement dangerous. He noted that staple foods had largely run out since the spring, forcing residents to rely on small personal reserves.
Yevhenovych added that landmines and drone strikes claimed residents’ lives daily. An estimated 2,000 people were still in Oleshky when the temporary truce took effect, with options to evacuate to Ukrainian- or Russian-held areas, or stay behind with replenished food and medical supplies.
According to Yevhenovych, many residents chose to stay to protect their homes and animals. Ukrainian authorities have withheld the exact evacuation numbers and route details to protect those remaining and secure future humanitarian missions, though Melania Trump shared on social media that the convoy successfully evacuated over 750 people.
Liza Paliy, 19, waited at the border for her father, whom she had not seen for over two and a half years after fleeing the occupied city with her mother and sister. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, praised the mission as a major success, noting that evacuees ranged from one year old to 94 and brought pets including dogs, cats, a parrot, and a raccoon.
Ongoing Hostilities and Regional Impact
Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, stated that both sides agreed to conduct regular humanitarian missions in and around Oleshky, though Lubinets did not mention this plan. Lantratova added that evacuees who chose to move to Russian-occupied territory were taken to a temporary shelter in Simferopol in the Crimean peninsula.
Meanwhile, local governor Yegor Kovalchuk reported that a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia’s western Bryansk region on Saturday, leaving five others wounded. Officials also reported Ukrainian drone strikes in Bashkortostan, where Russian media noted a fire in the regional capital of Ufa.
The Russian defence ministry announced on Saturday that its forces intercepted and shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Moscow launched overnight drone strikes targeting energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine, cutting power to 280,000 households in the Dnipro and Kyiv regions.
