Oleshky evacuees reunite with families at Ukrainian border after years apart, under rare local truce
Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday in a major evacuation brokered with help from Melania Trump, reuniting with relatives after years of separation as a local Kherson ceasefire held.
Residents of the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday, stepping off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border into the arms of relatives they had not seen for years, in a major evacuation carried out under the most significant local truce since Russia's full-scale invasion began more than four years ago.
The evacuees, many wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags, were met by family members, volunteers with hand-drawn welcome signs, and aid workers handing out coffee and food. Relatives had waited at the border crossing in the Chernihiv region alongside tents set up by the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Central Kitchen, with provisions laid on even for the evacuees' pets.
The journey itself traced an extraordinary route out of the occupied town. Those who chose to return to Ukraine were taken first to the Russian city of Anapa, then flown to Homel in Belarus, before travelling onward to the border. Ukrainian authorities have restricted details of the exact crossing point and have not disclosed how many people were evacuated, saying the secrecy protects those who chose to remain in Oleshky and safeguards any future humanitarian missions.
The White House has said United States First Lady Melania Trump helped to broker the localised deal, while Pope Leo XIV pressed both Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations. Melania Trump posted on social media on Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the evacuees' arrival on Telegram and thanked her for her help with the mediation.
The ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region began early on Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening. During the pause, roads into Oleshky were cleared of mines and humanitarian aid was delivered to a town where, evacuees said, no food deliveries had arrived since the summer.
An estimated 2,000 people were still living in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered a choice: travel to Ukrainian-controlled territory, move to Russian-held territory, or remain in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. Some chose the Russian-held route and were taken to a temporary accommodation centre in Simferopol, in Crimea, according to Russia's human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova.
The human stories at the border captured the scale of the separation. Dmytro, a 54-year-old Ukrainian serviceman, had counted every one of the 1,711 days since he last saw his wife Larisa. When her bus arrived on Saturday afternoon, he kissed her repeatedly and held her tightly; she has lost a third of her body weight during the occupation. Liza Paliy, 19, waited for her father, whom she last saw more than two and a half years earlier when she fled the occupied city with her mother and sister. Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who helped her escape.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, travelled to Oleshky to escort the evacuees personally, becoming the first high-profile Ukrainian official to travel openly to occupied areas under Russian control since the start of the war. He said he had spoken in Oleshky on Friday with Lantratova, and that the evacuees ranged in age from just over one year old to 94, bringing with them dogs, cats, a parrot and even a raccoon. Lubinets hailed the mission as a win and said he hoped the Oleshky truce could be replicated elsewhere.
Oleshky, in the Kherson region, has been under Russian occupation since the early months of the invasion. According to the United States-based Institute for the Study of War, about 40 percent of the town's pre-war population of around 24,000 managed to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory when that was still possible early in the fighting, leaving those who remained cut off for years as the front line hardened around them.
What happens next is uncertain. The local ceasefire is due to expire on Sunday evening, and those who stayed behind face the prospect of renewed isolation. For the evacuees who arrived on Saturday, the immediate challenges are practical ones: replacing lost documents, receiving medical treatment, arranging long-term housing and rebuilding lives interrupted for years. Whether the Oleshky model can be repeated in other occupied towns may depend on whether the same combination of mediation, a localised pause in fighting and guarantees for both sides can be assembled again.
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