Evacuees from Russia-occupied city where residents ate weeds arrive in Ukraine

People evacuated from the devastated Russian-occupied city of Oleshky have arrived in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed.

Residents of the frontline city had been trapped without food, water and electricity, with many resorting to cooking garden weeds to survive.

The evacuees were taken out of Oleshky on Friday during a local ceasefire, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, before travelling through Russian occupied territory to southern Russia.

The residents then flew to the city of Gomel in Belarus before being driven across the Ukrainian border.

"As of now, Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky have crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region," Zelensky said in a post on X.

"All of them will receive the assistance they need. It is important that government agencies and all the regional and local authorities involved work effectively and help our people adapt."

A humanitarian ceasefire took effect across the frontline region of Kherson on Tuesday, providing the first few days of peace in the area in four years, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Conditions had become so desperate in Oleshky that not only was getting supplies into the city extremely difficult, but escape was highly dangerous because the routes out had been mined and subject to drone attack.

One resident who fled the city three weeks earlier told the BBC he had walked through 24km (15 miles) of minefields to get to safety.

The Oleshky ceasefire has required close cooperation with Lantratova, which Lubinets said he carried out in the interests of saving lives.

But some in Ukraine have recoiled at the sight of him standing beside a representative of the Russian occupying power which has killed so many of the city's residents and made life unbearable for the rest.

Russia said on Thursday that it had prepared "dozens of tonnes" of aid for the residents who do not wish to leave, including food, medicine, hygiene products and fuel for generators.