Oleshky evacuees cross into Ukraine after 19-hour journey under war's longest local truce

They arrived wrapped in blue and yellow flags, stepping off buses into the arms of relatives they had not seen for years. At the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Chernihiv region on Saturday, the first large-scale evacuation of civilians from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory concluded with scenes of grief and relief in equal measure — the product of a localized ceasefire that Ukrainian officials are already calling a possible template for future humanitarian missions.

Residents of Oleshky — a city on the Dnipro River's eastern bank in the Kherson region that Russian forces have occupied since the early days of the full-scale invasion — endured a 19-hour journey home: buses through occupied territory to Armiansk in Crimea, then to the Russian city of Anapa, flights to the Belarusian city of Gomel, and finally a crossing into Ukraine. Four planes carrying evacuees landed in Gomel earlier Saturday, according to Ukrainian parliament member David Arakhamia.

Village residents stood along the highway, waving flags and holding torches to welcome the convoy. People bearing hand-drawn signs offered coffee to those arriving. Aid workers from the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Central Kitchen were on site, along with ambulances and staff from Chernihiv Regional Hospital. The youngest evacuee had recently turned one year old; the oldest was 94. They brought dogs, cats, a parrot, and a raccoon.

We love them, we love them. We know that they are protecting us. And a deep bow to them, and a deep bow to their parents, for having such children. I am proud, I am simply proud.— Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, evacuee

Liza Paliy, 19, had waited at the border for her father — a man she last saw more than two and a half years ago when she fled Oleshky with her mother and sister.

We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately two years have already passed.— Liza Paliy, 19, evacuee's daughter

The evacuation was made possible by a ceasefire in the Kherson region that began early Tuesday and is expected to run through Sunday evening — the longest halt to fighting in any area since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, according to Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets. The White House said US First Lady Melania Trump helped broker the localized deal. Pope Leo XIV also pressed both sides to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations. In a post on X, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to "the American side and US First Lady Melania Trump for their mediation."

Ukrainian and Russian officials visited Oleshky together on Friday in a rare show of cooperation, delivering aid and organizing departures. An estimated 2,000 people remained in the city when the truce took hold. They were offered three options: evacuation to Ukrainian-held territory, evacuation to Russian-held territory, or remaining in Oleshky with replenished food and medical supplies. According to Newsmax journalist Alex Salvi, one of the only non-Russian journalists granted access inside Oleshky during the mission, approximately 750 people registered for evacuation, split between 11 buses heading toward Ukraine and four heading toward Russia.

Ukrainian authorities have not disclosed the exact number evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled territory, citing security concerns and the need to protect those who remained and safeguard future missions. In a social media post on Friday, Melania Trump said the convoy had been able to safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Those who chose Russian-held territory were taken to a temporary shelter in Simferopol, in Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, according to Russia's human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova, who co-coordinated the operation alongside Lubinets.

The conditions evacuees described inside Oleshky were severe. Ivan Yevhenovych, 48, holding a cigarette between shaking fingers at the border, said landmines or drone strikes had been killing residents every day. He said that "since spring, there hasn't really been any staple food left," adding that "people had a little bit of their own reserves. We are thrifty people." A 29-year-old former resident named Valera told AFP that people had been cooking grass to survive, and that some had been forced to shoot and cook dogs. The Hurov family of five said they had been reduced to eating vegetables and had feared that their son-in-law could be forcibly drafted into the Russian army. Mined roads had at one point made it impossible to leave.

We didn't expect to make it out of there. You know, when this whole crisis began, we thought nobody needed us.— Tetiana Hurova, evacuee

This is an extremely important moment. Behind us are difficult negotiations, agreements, preparations, and an enormous amount of work. But most importantly, the people who waited so long to be rescued are finally safe.— Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman

Lubinets said he hoped the Oleshky truce "could form the basis of a new mechanism for responding to the most difficult humanitarian crises." According to Lantratova — though Lubinets made no mention of it in his own statements — both sides have agreed to carry out regular humanitarian missions in and around Oleshky. Lantratova added that while the mission had ended, conditions in Oleshky remain extremely difficult.

Andrii Zhydenko, director of Chernihiv Regional Hospital, framed the moment in stark terms. Speaking to reporters, he described it as "a celebration because we're bringing our Ukrainians home," and said of the suffering endured there: "It is simply genocide in the 21st century."

Even as the Oleshky truce held, fighting continued elsewhere. The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight. According to Zelenskyy, Russian strikes on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight cut power to 280,000 households in the Dnipro and Kyiv regions. A Ukrainian drone attack killed two people and wounded five in Russia's Bryansk region, according to the local governor. Ukrainian drone strikes were also reported in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, with Russian media reporting a fire in the capital Ufa, home to several oil refineries.

Separately, Zelenskyy on Saturday welcomed US approval of Ukraine's purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors — a $2.1 billion sale funded through donations from Canada, Germany, and Norway with no American funds involved, according to the State Department — but warned the weapons could take years to arrive and urged allies to supply interceptors from existing stocks immediately to cover Ukraine through the coming winter.

Why it matters — The Oleshky mission is the largest publicly known humanitarian evacuation from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory since the full-scale invasion began, and officials on both sides are already discussing whether its ceasefire model can be replicated to reach other trapped civilian populations.

Sources differ on Exact number of people evacuated to Ukrainian-held territory: More than 750 (total registered for evacuation) (theguardian.com / Melania Trump post) vs About 500 expected arrivals (aljazeera.com / Red Cross official at border) vs Exact figure withheld for security reasons (yahoo.com / Ukrainian authorities)

Reported by theguardian.com, reuters.com, inquirer.com, yahoo.com, aljazeera.com, telegraph.co.uk