A humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky was completed on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, as residents crossed from Belarus into Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. The operation occurred during a localized truce that began at 3 a.m. Tuesday and is scheduled to remain in effect through Sunday evening. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the White House credited U.S. First Lady Melania Trump with helping to broker the deal for the temporary ceasefire.
Oleshky, located in the southeastern Kherson region, has been under Russian occupation since early 2022. The city, which had a pre-war population of 24,000, has faced a lack of running water, electricity, gas, and food, with some residents reporting they cooked garden weeds to survive. Humanitarian efforts have been restricted by mined routes and destroyed bridges across the Dnipro River.
During the evacuation, residents were given the choice to move to Ukrainian-held territory, relocate to Russian-controlled areas, or stay in Oleshky with replenished supplies. Those returning to Ukraine traveled by bus through occupied territory to Anapa in southern Russia, flew to Homel in Belarus, and were then driven to the Ukrainian border. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova traveled to Oleshky together to facilitate the mission.
The operation affected approximately 2,000 residents remaining in the frontline city, including children as young as one and elderly people up to 94 years old. While authorities did not disclose the exact number of participants to protect future missions, Melania Trump stated that the humanitarian convoy had the capacity to evacuate more than 750 people. For these individuals, the move represents a shift from living in an active combat zone without basic utilities to accessing aid and reuniting with family members, some of whom had been separated for over two years.
The localized truce allowed for the clearance of mines along the road out of Oleshky and the delivery of "dozens of tonnes" of aid by Russia, including medicine and fuel for generators. However, the agreement did not halt the wider conflict. On Saturday, Russian officials reported two deaths from a Ukrainian drone attack in the Bryansk region, while Ukrainian officials reported that Russian strikes on energy and railway infrastructure left 280,000 households without power in the Dnipro and Kyiv regions.
The Oleshky evacuation sets a precedent for direct cooperation between Ukrainian and Russian human rights officials during the ongoing war. While Lubinets faced domestic criticism for appearing alongside a Russian representative, he maintained the action was necessary to save lives. Looking ahead, the current localized ceasefire is scheduled to expire at the end of Sunday, Nov. 1. Ceasefire negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. are expected to resume in Abu Dhabi in early November.