By Basant El-Faramawy
A humanitarian convoy has begun evacuating civilians from the Russian-held city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, marking the first such operation in more than four years of war. The city, located on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River opposite Kherson, has endured months of severe food and medical shortages, with warnings of starvation for the roughly 2,000 residents who remain, including about 50 children.
Convoy arrives under local ceasefire
The convoy, comprising 25 buses and ambulances, entered Oleshky on Friday after a localized ceasefire in the Kherson region allowed roads to be de-mined. The vehicles delivered food and medicine and are transporting residents who wish to leave for either Russia or Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Complex evacuation route
Although Ukrainian territory lies only 5 kilometres away, evacuees must travel to the Russian city of Anapa, fly to Belarus, and then take buses across the border into Ukraine's Chernihiv region. Ukrainian lawmaker Davyd Arakhamia confirmed that some evacuees were heading to Anapa, from where they would continue by plane and bus. The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Budanov, said the operation was underway, though it was unclear how many of the more than 500 people who had expressed a desire to leave actually boarded the convoy.
Dire conditions described by residents
Residents have given harrowing accounts of surviving on as little as a cup of rice or buckwheat a day, sometimes supplemented with wild plants. One woman told Ukrainian television: "We've been through so much here in these five years." Another, preparing to leave, 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." Several hundred people, mainly older residents, have chosen to stay.
Reports of Russian pressure
Volunteer Ksenia Arkhipova, who remains in contact with people in Oleshky, said large numbers of Russian military personnel are in the city, checking empty houses and in some cases moving into them. She added that Russian forces are pressuring locals to evacuate to Russia rather than to Ukraine.
Ceasefire brokered with US involvement
The ceasefire that enabled the convoy was claimed by US First Lady Melania Trump to have been brokered with her help — a rare instance of cooperation between the warring sides. The Kremlin, however, described the arrangement as a special case that is "difficult to extrapolate" to broader peace efforts.
Background and coordination
Oleshky was seized by Russian troops in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and suffered extensive flooding after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023. The evacuation was coordinated on the ground by Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova. Lubinets said it was the first time since 2022 that a ceasefire had been established across such an extensive stretch of the frontline and maintained for a significant duration.
