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Some residents have been evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky and are heading towards Ukrainian-controlled areas, a Ukrainian lawmaker announced on Friday, as a major ceasefire entered its fourth day.
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“The Ukrainian delegation, along with the evacuated residents of Oleshky, set off for Anapa. From there, they will fly to Belarus and then travel home by bus,” said Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia.
A convoy of 25 buses and several ambulances arrived in the war-torn city earlier on Friday, bringing food and medicine and helping residents who wished to leave.
“At this moment, the humanitarian operation is underway in Oleshky,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote in an post online. Budanov is not part of the Ukrainian delegation in the city.
Officials from Ukraine and Russia have worked together on the rare humanitarian mission, offering a brief moment of cooperation amid the ongoing war.
“We are completing our humanitarian mission in Oleshky,” Russia’s human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova said in a video on Telegram, adding that a “convoy with those who are going to the territory of the Russian Federation is heading to the territory of the Russian Federation”.
Around 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, according to local authorities and volunteers.
The local ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region is expected to remain in place until Sunday evening.
“Everyone who wishes to leave Oleshky will have the opportunity to do so safely,” Russia and Ukraine said in separate, identical statements. “Those who choose to stay may remain and will receive all the humanitarian support they need.”
Although Ukrainian-controlled territory is just a few kilometres across the Dnipro River from Oleshky, evacuees will have to travel hundreds of kilometres through Russia and Belarus before entering northern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian public television. The exact evacuation route has not been disclosed.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on X that he will “personally continue to coordinate the humanitarian mission.”
Despite the local ceasefire, fighting on Friday continued in other areas. Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed to have intercepted more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine reported Russian strikes involving ballistic missiles, other missiles and dozens of drones.
Additional sources • AP
