Evacuation Begins from Besieged Oleshky as 25-Bus Humanitarian Convoy Arrives

Civilians began to be evacuated on Friday from the besieged Russian-held city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, as part of a joint relief operation — the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war.

Oleshky, which lies on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River opposite Kherson, has suffered months of serious food and medical shortages, leading to warnings of starvation for the few thousand people remaining there, including about 50 children.

A humanitarian convoy of 25 buses and ambulances arrived in the city to deliver food and medicine and to evacuate those wishing to leave for Russia or Ukraine. A localised ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region allowed the roads out of Oleshky to be de-mined, making the evacuation possible.

Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party who was part of the delegation to Oleshky, confirmed some people were travelling to the southern Russian city of Anapa. 'From there, they will fly by plane to Belarus, and then travel by bus to their homes,' he added.

Although Ukrainian territory lies just 5km from Oleshky, evacuees will instead need to travel to Anapa and on to Belarus, and then drive across the border into Ukraine's Chernihiv region.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's presidential office, wrote in an online post: 'At this moment, the humanitarian operation is under way in Oleshky.' Budanov is not part of the delegation in Oleshky.

Earlier reports had suggested more than 500 people wanted to move to Ukrainian territory, but it was unclear how many people travelled on the convoy. Kyiv's delegation reached the city late on Friday morning to prepare for the evacuation, with footage on social media showing tearful residents embracing delegation members as they gathered in heavy rain to wait for the main convoy. Several hundred people, mainly older people, have chosen to stay.

In a video, a woman who identified herself as Anna, asked whether she was packed and ready to leave, said: 'Yes, we are on bus 20, my son is on bus 17. To Ukraine.'

About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, according to authorities and volunteers, and people have given harrowing accounts of risking their lives travelling along mine-strewn roads to get food and water. Some say they have survived on a cup of rice or buckwheat a day, sometimes with a tomato, cucumber or wild plants added.

Ksenia Arkhipova, a volunteer who previously lived in Oleshky and remains in contact with people there, said large numbers of Russian military personnel were in the city. 'They are currently checking empty houses and, in some cases, moving into them,' she said. 'They are also pressuring local residents to evacuate to Russia, rather than to Ukraine.'

The convoy arrived under a ceasefire in the area, which US First Lady Melania Trump claimed to have helped broker — a rare example of cooperation between the warring sides. On Friday, however, the Kremlin described it as a special case that was 'difficult to extrapolate' to the wider search for a peace settlement.

Oleshky was seized by Russian troops during the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has suffered extensive damage and was badly flooded after the destruction of the upriver Kakhovka dam in June 2023.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who was on the ground coordinating the operation with his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, was told by one woman: 'The problem is that a lot of people are staying.' Lubinets replied: 'I've been told that it's their own choice. At the very least, we'll do what we can to ensure that somehow humanitarian aid gets through.' He added: 'This is the first time since 2022 that a ceasefire has been established across such an extensive stretch of the frontline and has been maintained for such a significant duration.'