In short
- Up to 6,000 people, including 200 children, were believed to be living in Oleshky and its surrounding areas before the evacuation, with 1,700 in the city itself.
- A convoy of 25 buses was brought in for up to 750 evacuees during a four-hour departure window on Friday.
- Oleshky was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- The evacuation followed a humanitarian ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump that took effect in the Kherson region earlier this week.
- Evacuees travelled through Russian-occupied territory into southern Russia, flew to Belarus and reached a military facility in Chernihiv on Saturday.
Hundreds of residents left Russian-occupied Oleshky and reached the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv on Saturday, travelling via Russia and Belarus under a humanitarian ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump. Up to 6,000 people, including 200 children, were believed to be living in the city and surrounding areas before the evacuation, 1,700 of them in Oleshky itself.
How did the Oleshky evacuation work?
Oleshky was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is hemmed in by the Dnipro River on one side and Russian positions on the other. A humanitarian ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump took effect in the Kherson region earlier this week, bringing the area its first days of calm in four years and allowing residents to leave.
Residents had a four-hour window on Friday to leave; a convoy of 25 buses was brought in for up to 750 evacuees, along with ambulances for people with limited mobility. Evacuees travelled through Russian-occupied territory into southern Russia, then flew to Belarus and reached a military facility in Chernihiv by bus on Saturday. Washington has separately approved a $2.1bn sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
What did residents describe about life in Oleshky?
Olha, who arrived in Chernihiv with her husband Viacheslav, described life in the front-line city over the past few years with one word: “Horror”. Viacheslav said the couple had come back from hell. They had lived in Oleshky with their son and daughter, both in their 30s, and feared that trying to escape could be more dangerous than staying, because routes were mined and exposed to drone attack. Earlier this month, as supplies dwindled, they tried to find food by crossing minefields. “People were stepping on mines, dying and being maimed, all just to survive,” Olha said. Residents too afraid to go out cooked garden weeds, she said.
Mykhailo Palii, met on the tarmac by his daughters Dasha and Anya, said a hole had been blown in his bathroom. “There were drone attacks and missile strikes. It happened, but I didn’t tell them about it because I knew they would worry,” he said. In a separate attack, a Russian drone hit a mall in Pavlohrad, killing five people and wounding 67.
Tetiana and Volodymyr, a couple who arrived carrying a cat, said their home burned down three years ago and they had lived since in an abandoned neighbour’s house. “There’s nothing for us to regret leaving,” Tetiana said, adding that their children are married and do not live in the city.
How many people are still in Oleshky?
Olha said many people remained behind. “There are still a lot of people left there, living under those conditions,” she said. Those who left now face the question of where to rebuild. Palii said he would look for work: “There’s no job I can’t handle. Digging, hoeing, planting, building. I can even do demolition work.” Olha said her family had no relatives elsewhere in Ukraine and would stay with acquaintances while they got back on their feet. “If we managed to survive in hell, we’ll survive here too,” she said.
Frequently asked questions
How many people were evacuated from Oleshky?
A convoy of 25 buses was brought in for up to 750 evacuees during a four-hour window on Friday, and hundreds reached Chernihiv in northern Ukraine on Saturday. Up to 6,000 people, including 200 children, were believed to be living in Oleshky and its surrounding areas before the evacuation.
Who brokered the ceasefire that allowed Oleshky residents to leave?
US First Lady Melania Trump brokered the humanitarian ceasefire, which took effect in the Kherson region earlier this week and brought the area its first days of calm in four years.
Where did the evacuees from Oleshky go?
They travelled through Russian-occupied territory into southern Russia, flew to Belarus and then continued by bus to a military facility in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, where they were processed before moving on.
With reporting from BBC News.
Stock image, not from the events described. Globe World — Jo%E3o%20Silas / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)