Hundreds of people are scheduled to be evacuated on Friday from a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine, after spending months without basic supplies, under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump.
The town of Oleshki, located in Kherson Province in southern Ukraine, has been under continuous Russian occupation since April 2022. According to the Ukrainian authorities, about 2,000 people, including 50 children, are still stranded in the town, which was subjected to massive destruction, after all access roads to it became either heavily planted with mines or filled with drones, making escape from it impossible.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply in recent months. Ukrainian authorities reported that stocks of food and other supplies had run out in the town since September, with electricity, gas, medicine and other necessities cut off. This tragic situation has sparked global concern and prompted international organizations, religious leaders and others to call for urgent action.
Reports indicate that residents were forced to scavenge food scraps and eat wild herbs, while the bodies of people who died were left in the streets.
The temporary truce entered into force on Tuesday, and its scope has since extended to include the Kherson region. The truce also provided some relief to the residents of the city of Kherson, the capital of the Ukrainian-controlled province, which was subject to almost continuous Russian attacks with drones.
The truce is scheduled to end on Sunday.
The Ukrainian Parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lobinets, went to Oleshki to accompany people who will be evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled territories, becoming the first high-ranking Ukrainian official to publicly travel to Russian-occupied territories since the outbreak of the war.
Lobinets said in a statement: “We are in Oleshki, where people are gathered who want to move to the territory of the Russian Federation, and others who want to leave to the territory of Ukraine. Everyone will have this opportunity.”
His Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, was also present in Oleshki, and videos showed the two officials standing side by side and talking to local residents.
The evacuation is scheduled to begin early Friday afternoon local time. According to Lubinets, the operation includes 25 buses with a capacity of about 750 passengers. The buses are expected to take a route that passes through Crimea, Russia and Belarus, before arriving at the Ukrainian border on Saturday.
Video clips published by Lobinets' office showed the commissioner receiving groups of emotional residents in Oleshki and talking to them about their trip. In one clip, he was shown talking to people preparing to leave about residents who had decided to stay, telling them: “I was told this is their personal choice. We will at least ensure that some humanitarian aid reaches them.”
According to the Institute for the Study of War, an American research center specializing in monitoring conflicts, about 40% of the town's population, which numbered about 24,000 before the war, were able to flee to areas under Ukrainian control in the early stages of the war, when this was still possible. Thousands more have since fled, but many remain in the town, either unable or unwilling to leave.
The town plays an important role in Russian military operations in the region. It is located near the banks of the Dnipro River, directly opposite the Ukrainian positions.
In light of the exchange of fire between the two sides, the residents of Oleshki find themselves caught in the midst of confrontations.
As the Russian occupation intensified, all escape routes towards Ukrainian territory gradually disappeared.
While it was previously possible to leave the town by heading deeper into the territory under Russian control, this has also become impossible in recent months, with the intensification of fighting and all roads leading out of the town turning into paths planted with mines or filled with drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of planting mines on the roads leading to the town, in an attempt to prevent residents from leaving.
