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Evacuees from Oleshky Arrive in Belarus, Head to Ukraine
· Confirmed
In Short: Hundreds of residents from the war-torn Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky arrived in Belarus on Saturday, en route to Ukrainian territory.
Four planes carrying evacuees landed in the southeastern Belarusian town of Gomel, according to Ukrainian parliament member David Arakhamia.
The evacuation mission, brokered by a ceasefire, allowed for the road out of Oleshky to be demined.
Oleshky, which has suffered from major food and medicine shortages due to years of fighting, saw residents begin their journey out of the region in bus convoys on Friday.
The evacuees were met in Gomel by rescue workers, medical teams, and Red Cross volunteers, as reported by Belarusian state media.
The evacuees were given the option of traveling to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia.
Several hundred people decided to stay in Oleshky despite the widespread devastation and lack of basic services.
Olena, who now lives in Kyiv, said her grandmother and wider family in Oleshky were staying behind.
Lubinets and Lantratova traveled to Oleshky together on Friday, setting off from Armiansk in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
The evacuees first had to travel into Russian-occupied territory and then to the southern Russian city of Anapa before flying to Gomel.
Belarusian state media reported a bus convoy leaving Gomel airport for the Ukrainian border.
The evacuees were expected back in Ukraine later on Saturday, after the evacuation began on Friday during a local ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump.
The evacuation mission required careful coordination to ensure safe passage and demining of roads near Oleshky.
What this adds
The evacuees were given a four-hour window to leave Oleshky, with 25 buses and ambulances available for those with limited mobility.
The ceasefire allowed for the road out of Oleshky to be demined, but the evacuation across the Dnipro River directly into Ukraine-controlled territory was not possible.
What's confirmed
- Four planes carrying the Oleshky evacuees arrived in the southeastern Belarusian town of Gomel on Saturday, said Ukrainian parliament member David Arakhamia.
- Russia’s ombudswoman and lead representative on the mission, Yana Lantratova, said buses also transported Oleshky residents who wanted to live in Russia.
- Hundreds of residents from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky have been transported to Belarus, as part of a major evacuation mission under a truce that the White House says United States First Lady Melania Trump helped broker.
- Several hundred people are understood to have decided to stay, despite the widespread devastation and the lack of gas, electricity and running water.
- The Oleshky ceasefire has required close cooperation with Lantratova, which Lubinets said he carried out in the interests of saving lives.
What's still developing
- "That's how locals transport all wounded and dead people in Oleshky to the hospital and the hospital's morgue: in garden wheelbarrows."
- The Los Angeles Times said the operation offered evacuees the option of traveling to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia, and it quoted the joint statements that "All those who wish to leave Oleshky will have the opportunity to do so safely,".
- "The older generation does not want to leave," she told the BBC.
- "The problem is that a lot of people are staying," he can be heard saying.
- An Oleshky resident told the BBC she had decided against leaving because "they wouldn't take my animals, so that's it."
- Civiles de Oleshky, devastada por la guerra, llegan a Bielorrusia rumbo a Ucrania The evacuation of Oleshky began under the ceasefire negotiated by the United States.
- “The United States, our European partners, and other partners around the world have sufficient stocks of PAC-3 interceptors in their warehouses,” said Zelenskyy in a post on X.
- “There’s food, there’s medical care, and, as we understand, this preparation has been going on for almost a week,” said MacAlpine.
- “It was a very long journey for them,” Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said, reporting from Moscow.
- “We’re waiting for information on where and when they’re going to be taken next,” she said.
- Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from the Ukrainian side of the border where evacuees were expected to cross, said “a lot of preparation” was under way before their arrival, with a large media presence and humanitarian aid workers on site.
- “First, more than a dozen buses took them to Anapa on the Black Sea… And then they spent several hours getting to Gomel by plane”.