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Hundreds of Oleshky Evacuees Arrive in Belarus

Updated 1:32 PM ET · 7:53 AM ETConfirmed

World Desk

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 Gomel, Belarus, after a ceasefire brokered by the United States First Lady Melania Trump.

In Gomel, evacuees were met by rescue workers, medical teams, and Red Cross volunteers, according to Belarusian state media.

The ceasefire, which began on Tuesday, allowed for the demining of roads out of Oleshky, facilitating the evacuation.

Hundreds of residents chose to remain in Oleshky despite the widespread devastation and lack of basic services.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Russia's ombudswoman Yana Lantratova traveled to Oleshky together to oversee the evacuation.

Olena, who now lives in Kyiv, said her grandmother and wider family in Oleshky were staying behind.

The evacuation required close cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian authorities, with Russian forces providing safe passage and corridors for evacuees.

The evacuation process was complex, with evacuees first traveling into Russian-occupied territory before flying to Gomel.

Belarusian state media reported a bus convoy leaving Gomel airport for the Ukrainian border.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said residents from Oleshky had crossed into Ukraine after being evacuated via Belarus.

Background

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.
• "The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed," Sobyanin said on Telegram.

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,".
• A humanitarian ceasefire took force across the frontline region of Kherson on Tuesday, and the ceasefire allowed the road out of Oleshky to be demined and would remain in place until the end of Sunday 1 November.
• "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.
• “It was a very long journey for them,” Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said, reporting from Moscow.
• “The United States, our European partners, and other partners around the world have sufficient stocks of PAC-3 interceptors in their warehouses,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
• Culture Minister Olivia Grange will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”, the ministry said in a statement.
• Grange said it was “intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured”.
• Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina Trump, confirmed that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev helped pay for their wedding celebrations in the Bahamas, after reports revealed that the Putin-linked businessman covered hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses.

Sources

• BBClink
• NewsCordlink
• Jamaicaobserverlink
• Latintimeslink
• DWlink
• Lemondelink
• Newscordlink
• Warpbeatlink
• Broadstreethockeylink
• Los Angeles Timeslink
• BBClink
• Irishtimeslink
• E360link
• Inewslink
• WarpBeat — background on Hundreds from Russian-occupied Oleshky land in Belarus en route to Ukraine link
• Associated Press — video link