A special evacuation corridor has opened in Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, giving residents of the Russian-occupied city the chance to leave. Russian and Ukrainian authorities have confirmed the operation, made possible by a temporary ceasefire in the Kherson region and the clearing of mines from the evacuation route.
The ceasefire, mediated by Melania Trump, wife of U.S. President Donald Trump, took effect on Tuesday and will remain in force until the end of Sunday, November 1. Residents who want to leave have just four hours to do so. Twenty-five buses have been arranged to transport them, with capacity for up to 750 people, and ambulances have also been provided for people with mobility difficulties.
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However, several hundred residents have chosen not to leave. They will remain in a severely damaged city without gas, electricity or running water.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said every resident who wants to leave Oleshky will be able to do so safely.
Lubinets also emphasized that people who prefer to stay will have access to humanitarian aid. Although the Ukrainian-controlled area is about five kilometers from Oleshky, evacuees must first travel through areas under Russian control.
Under the plan, the group will initially be taken to the Russian city of Anapa. From there, a Russian government plane will transport them to Gomel in Belarus, from where they will cross the border into Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Some residents are expected to remain in Russian-controlled territories.
To coordinate the evacuation, Ukrainian representative Dmytro Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, set off together for Oleshky on Friday. Their journey began in Armiansk, on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
The BBC reports that Lubinets is the first Ukrainian official to travel to occupied parts of the country since the war began. He may also become the first Ukrainian official to visit Russia when he accompanies the evacuees on their return to Ukraine.
Lubinets’s presence alongside an official from the occupying authorities has angered some Ukrainian citizens. The Ukrainian representative defended the cooperation, saying its purpose is to save lives.
In videos posted on social media, Lubinets and Lantratova explained that residents can decide for themselves whether to leave for Russian-controlled territories or return to Ukraine.
One video shows Lubinets meeting tearful residents. He said many had decided to stay and that the authorities would work to ensure they received humanitarian aid.
Russia said it had assembled tens of tons of aid for residents who would not leave. The packages include food, medicine, hygiene products and fuel for generators.
A woman from Oleshky told the BBC she would not leave because she was not allowed to take her animals with her. Meanwhile, Olena, who lives in Kyiv, said her grandmother and other family members had decided to stay in the city.
“The older generation doesn’t want to leave,” Olena told the BBC. She added that she had managed to persuade her father to leave only because she had just become a mother; otherwise, he would never have met his grandchild.
Olena also described the tragic fate of her grandmother’s aunt, who died last winter in Oleshky. The woman had lost both legs after stepping on a land mine buried under the snow. With no transport available, residents took her to the hospital in a garden cart.
“Residents transport all the injured and dead to the hospital and morgue in garden carts,” Olena recounted.
The ceasefire in the Kherson region is expected to end at the close of Sunday, November 1. It has brought several days of calm—the first in the region since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Residents of Kherson told the BBC they had welcomed the temporary halt in fighting with relief. At the same time, they fear Russia may use the pause to reinforce its military positions on the banks of the Dnipro River and launch a new offensive after the ceasefire ends.
The Kremlin has clarified that the agreement for Oleshky should not be seen as a sign of readiness to extend the ceasefire to other parts of Ukraine. A limited group of foreign journalists has been invited to observe the operation, which Moscow is expected to present as a humanitarian initiative to protect the population.
However, many Ukrainians believe Russia is seeking to improve its image in the White House and give U.S. President Donald Trump a political advantage ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
For the people of Oleshky, the evacuation is a chance to leave a city devastated by war, where a lack of basic services and the threat of land mines have become part of everyday life.
