Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky arrive in Ukraine

Residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian ‌town of Oleshky crossed into Ukraine ​on Saturday, part of a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which the White House says was brokered with help from Melania Trump, began at 3am on Tuesday and is expected to continue until Sunday evening.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the ‌United States ‌and the ​US first lady ⁠for ​their mediation.

“When the ​world pays ‌attention, people are rescued. ​Further steps toward de-escalation ⁠and real ⁠progress ​toward peace are also needed,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

After leaving Oleshky, the residents had travelled by ‌bus to Crimea ⁠before flying to Belarus and then ‌onward to Ukraine via ​a border crossing.

The estimated 2,000 remaining residents were offered the choice of travelling to Ukrainian or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.

Russia’s ministry of defence said those who chose to travel from Oleshky to Ukrainian-held territory were taken to the Russian city of Anapa and flown to the Belarusian city of Homel.

They were accompanied by Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights, it said.

[ The young Ukrainians risking all to flee Russian occupation and the prospect of fighting their ownOpens in new window ]

“We will be home soon,” said a video post from Lubinets at Homel airport.

Relatives waited on Saturday at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, along with aid tents, coffee stands and even provisions to feed the pets the evacuees were bringing with them.

Volunteers from organisations, including the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the World Central Kitchen, were also there.

Liza Paliy (19), who last saw her father more than two years ago when she, her mother and sister fled from the occupied territory while he stayed behind, was among those waiting.

“We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed,” she said.

Daria Pavlyn also waited at the border in hopes of reuniting with her father, Mykhailo, whom she had not heard from in about a month.

He had planned to flee the occupied territory with his family after a nearby strike killed two neighbours but stayed behind when arrangements to care for the family’s home and animals fell through.

“We realised that, well, there was no [other] way, and he walked us to the road and that was it – that was the last time” they saw him, Pavlyn said.

Russian media outlets on Saturday showed civilians arriving at a temporary accommodation site in Simferopol on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russia and Ukraine have not specified how many people chose to leave the city, but the US first lady posted on social media on Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Apart from Melania Trump, Pope Leo XIV also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.

Russia’s ministry of defence said on Saturday its forces had shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Zelenskiy said Moscow launched drone attacks on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, leaving 280,000 households in Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power. – Reuters/AP