Residents evacuated from Russia-occupied city back in Ukraine

Key points

• Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky reached Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
• The estimated 2,000 remaining residents could go to Ukrainian or Russian territory, or stay in the city.
• Melania Trump said the convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday, traveling by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus under a temporary ceasefire brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Oleshky, in Ukraine's southeastern Kherson region, has been occupied by Russia since the first days of the war and is described as one of the conflict's most dire humanitarian crises.

The ceasefire began at 3 a.m. Tuesday and is expected to run through Sunday evening. The estimated 2,000 remaining residents were offered the choice of going to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory or staying in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. Those returning to Ukraine went first to the Russian city of Anapa, then flew to Homel in Belarus before heading home.

Families wait at the border

Ukrainian authorities restricted disclosure of the number of evacuees and the border crossing location, measures organizers said were meant to protect those who stayed in Oleshky and future humanitarian missions. Relatives waited at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border with aid tents and coffee stands, and volunteers from groups including the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Central Kitchen were present.

Liza Paliy, 19, last saw her father more than 2½ years ago when she, her mother and sister fled while he stayed behind. "We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed," she said. Daria Pavlyn also waited for her father, Mykhailo, whom she had not heard from in about a month.

We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed

— Liza Paliy

Fighting continues elsewhere

Russia and Ukraine have not said how many people chose to leave, but Melania Trump posted Friday that the convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people. Pope Leo XIV also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.

Fighting continued elsewhere during the localized ceasefire. A Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia's western Bryansk region, Gov. Yegor Kovalchuk said, and five others were wounded. Russia's Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Zelenskyy said Moscow's drone attacks left 280,000 households in the Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power.