Oleshky evacuees reach Ukraine after route through Russia and Belarus

Residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky have reached Ukrainian-held territory after a ceasefire allowed the road out of the city to be cleared of mines and humanitarian aid to be delivered.

The arrangement gave people a four-hour window to leave on Friday afternoon. A convoy of 25 buses, with space for 750 people, left the town along with ambulances for people with limited mobility. Ceasefire measures were reported to remain in place until the end of Sunday, 1 November.

The route out was not direct. Although Ukrainian military positions lie just 5km (3.1 miles) from Oleshky, evacuees first had to travel into Russian-occupied territory and then to the southern Russian city of Anapa. From there they flew to Gomel in Belarus before finally travelling on to Ukraine.

Several hundred people are understood to have decided to stay in the war-torn city, despite widespread devastation and the lack of gas, electricity and running water. Before the war, Oleshky was home to 24,000 people. It was seized by Russia during the first days of its full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Friday morning that those who decided to stay "will receive all the necessary humanitarian assistance". Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, travelled to Oleshky together on Friday, setting off from Armiansk in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

According to the report, Lubinets is the first Ukrainian official since the start of the war to visit Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Lubinets and his team for helping the evacuees be moved to safety.

Zelensky also thanked those who had helped bring attention to what he called the "true humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russia". Footage shared by the Ukrainian president showed Oleshky residents waving Ukrainian flags as they boarded a bus.

The evacuation highlights the difficult conditions facing civilians in areas beyond Ukrainian control, where movement is restricted and basic services have been severely disrupted. It also shows the role of negotiated arrangements in allowing civilians to leave and aid to enter, even as the wider war continues.

International humanitarian law requires parties to a conflict to allow civilians to leave conflict zones voluntarily and to permit impartial humanitarian relief. In practice, evacuations across front lines depend on security guarantees and agreement between the sides, and they can be slow and limited in scope.

The reports did not say how many people had left in total or give further details about the next stages of the operation. The situation in Oleshky and other occupied areas remains difficult to verify independently, and information about evacuations often comes from officials or footage released by the parties involved.

The war in Ukraine, launched by Russia in February 2022, has caused widespread displacement and destruction. Ukraine and its allies describe areas held by Russian forces as temporarily occupied, while Russia has claimed to annex several regions, a move not recognised by most countries.