Hundreds Evacuated From Russian-Occupied Oleshky Cross Into Ukraine Via Belarus
Hundreds of residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, in southern Ukraine, crossed into northern Ukraine via Belarus on Saturday, October 31, 2026, according to the BBC. Many of them were reunited with loved ones they had not seen for years, reports said, with families meeting at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
Russia seized Oleshky in the first days of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, the city has been under Russian control, and many of its residents have remained there.
A humanitarian ceasefire, a temporary halt to fighting for humanitarian purposes, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, took effect in the Kherson region. Residents of Oleshky had a four-hour window on Friday to leave.
The evacuation route was long and indirect. According to the BBC, evacuees travelled through Russian-occupied territory to southern Russia, flew to Belarus, and then arrived by bus at a military facility in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, on Saturday. Reuters reported that four planes carrying evacuees landed in Belarus that day. A convoy of 25 buses was brought in for up to 750 evacuees, along with ambulances for people with limited mobility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said residents evacuated from Oleshky via Belarus had crossed into Ukraine.
Many people remain behind. The BBC reported that up to 6,000 people, including 200 children, were believed to still be living in Oleshky and its surrounding areas, with about 1,700 of them in the city itself.
