Oleshky Evacuees Reach Ukraine After Long Route Through Russia and Belarus; Number Evacuated Not Disclosed

Since the Kherson-region ceasefire took hold early Tuesday, Oct. 27, and a convoy of 25 buses went into Oleshky on Friday, the evacuees have now reached Ukrainian-held territory. They crossed into the Chernihiv region today, Oct. 31, after a trip through Russia and Belarus.

The route out

The Oleshky residents who chose Ukraine did not go straight there. They were taken through occupied Crimea to the Russian city of Anapa, flown to Homel (Gomel) in Belarus, then bused across the border. BBC put the journey at nearly 19 hours.

Planes carrying residents landed in Belarus on Saturday morning, according to Belarusian state media and a senior Ukrainian official. Evacuees then stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border wrapped in Ukrainian flags.

Relatives, Red Cross staff, Doctors Without Borders volunteers and World Central Kitchen crews were waiting. Founder José Andrés said his team had food ready after what he called a long route. Crews also unloaded crates of pets, including cats, dogs, a parrot and a raccoon.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the arrival on social media. "As of now, Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky have crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region," he wrote. He thanked first lady Melania Trump, whom the White House says helped broker the localized truce, and said he hoped humanitarian access to the city would "remain open."

How many left is still unknown

Neither government has given a count. Ukrainian authorities have barred disclosure of the number of evacuees and the border crossing location. Organizers say the limits are meant to protect residents who stayed behind and future missions.

Russia's human rights ombudsman, Yana Lantratova, said "hundreds" were evacuated and that "everything unfolded without any incidents, and both sides noted the high level of organisation."

Melania Trump said Friday that the convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people. That is a capacity figure, not a headcount. About 2,000 people were estimated to be in Oleshky when the truce began, and several hundred are understood to have stayed despite the lack of gas, electricity and running water.

Those who left had a four-hour window on Friday, ending at 2 p.m. local time.

Reunions, and what residents describe

Dmytro, 54, a Ukrainian soldier whose surname was withheld for security reasons, had counted 1,711 days since he last saw his wife Larisa. She told CNN she has lost a third of her body weight under the occupation. Liza Paliy, 19, waited for her father, whom she last saw more than two and a half years ago.

Ivan Yevhenovych, 48, said there had been "a lot of drones" and that no staple food had been left in Oleshky since spring. He said landmines or drone strikes were killing residents every day. That is his account of conditions, not an independently verified casualty figure.

Some who stayed had personal reasons. "Some for their houses, some for their animals," Yevhenovych said.

A rare joint operation, and some Ukrainian objections

Ukraine's ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, traveled to Oleshky on Friday with Lantratova from Armiansk in Russian-occupied Crimea. BBC reports he is the first Ukrainian official to visit Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine since the war began.

Lubinets said the operation was extremely difficult. "Now we have a unique positive experience how to negotiate with the Russian side with the coordination role of Melania Trump," he told CNN.

Not everyone in Ukraine welcomed the image. According to BBC, some Ukrainians recoiled at the sight of Lubinets standing beside a representative of the Russian occupying power, which has killed many of the city's residents and made life there unbearable.

In one video from Oleshky, Lubinets is heard telling residents, "The problem is that a lot of people are staying."

What happens next

Lantratova and Lubinets made a joint request to the first lady that missions like this one be conducted on a regular basis under her coordination. Lubinets said many similar villages face the same shortages of food and medicine. "Our idea is to continue. But it doesn't only depend on Ukraine," he said.

Pope Leo XIV also pressed both governments to allow aid deliveries and evacuations.

The fighting has not stopped everywhere. A Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in western Russia during the localized truce, according to the Associated Press.

The ceasefire is scheduled to run through Sunday evening, Nov. 1. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has announced whether road access to Oleshky will stay open after it ends, or whether a second evacuation will be organized for the residents who remained.