Civilians Evacuated from Besieged Oleshky in First Joint Humanitarian Operation Since 2022
Oleshky – Residents of the besieged Russian-held city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine were evacuated on Friday as part of a joint relief operation, marking the first initiative of its kind since the war began four years and eight months ago. The city, situated on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River opposite Kherson, has endured months of critical food and medical shortages, prompting warnings of starvation for the few thousand people remaining, including approximately 50 children. The humanitarian convoy, comprising 25 buses and ambulances, arrived to deliver aid and evacuate those wishing to leave for Russia or Ukraine. A localized ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region allowed roads out of Oleshky to be de-mined, making the evacuation possible.
Although Ukrainian territory lies just three miles away, evacuees must travel to the southern Russian city of Anapa and then to Belarus before driving across the border into Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party who was part of the delegation to Oleshky, confirmed the evacuation of some individuals traveling to Anapa. He stated that from there, they would fly by plane to Belarus and then travel by bus to their homes. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote in an online post that the humanitarian operation was underway in Oleshky, though he was not part of the delegation on the ground.
Kyiv’s delegation reached the city late on Friday morning to prepare for the evacuation. Footage on social media showed tearful residents embracing delegation members as they gathered in heavy rain to wait for the main convoy. While earlier reports suggested more than 500 people wanted to move to Ukrainian territory, it remained unclear how many actually traveled in the convoy. Several hundred people, mainly older adults, chose to stay. When asked if she was ready to leave by a member of the Ukrainian delegation, a woman identifying herself as Anna said she was on bus 20 and her son was on bus 17, heading to Ukraine.
Oleshky’s population has declined to about 2,000 since the start of the war, according to authorities and volunteers. Many who stayed have given harrowing accounts of risking their lives traveling along mine-strewn roads for food and water. Some reported surviving on a cup of rice or buckwheat a day, sometimes supplemented with a tomato, cucumber, or wild plants. One woman told Ukrainian TV, “We’ve been through so much here in these five years.” Another older woman preparing to evacuate said, “If we had our health, maybe we’d stay there a bit longer, but that’s it. We just want to be with our children.”
Ksenia Arkhipova, a volunteer who previously lived in Oleshky and remains in contact with residents, said large numbers of Russian military personnel are in the city. She told the Associated Press that they are checking empty houses and, in some cases, moving into them, while also pressuring local residents to evacuate to Russia rather than Ukraine. The convoy arrived under a ceasefire that US First Lady Melania Trump claimed to have helped broker, representing rare cooperation between the warring sides. However, the Kremlin described it on Friday 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 initial days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. It suffered extensive damage and was badly flooded after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023. Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, was on the ground to coordinate the operation with his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova. Lubinets noted that this is the first time since 2022 that a ceasefire has been established across such an extensive stretch of the frontline and maintained for such a significant duration.
This report was produced in the Europe Brief News newsroom.
