A US-brokered mission, which would allow humanitarian aid to enter the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky and residents to leave safely, is in its final phase, Kyiv announced.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said that designated evacuation routes out of the land-mine-surrounded southern Ukrainian city had been cleared and that a humanitarian convoy was ready to set off.
“Delegations from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States have gathered to coordinate further steps,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram late on October 29. “Journalists from all three countries are also present.”
He added that all Oleshky residents wishing to leave the area will be able to do so until 2 p.m. local time on October 30, while the distribution of the aid will begin shortly after.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova has confirmed that demining operations in the city have been completed, with “tens of tons of humanitarian aid” being sent there.
For three consecutive days, starting on October 27, Ukraine and Russia observed a localised cease-fire in Oleshky with no violations reported. The arrangement was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, who announced the agreement a week earlier.
Melania Trump said that civilians from both countries were expected to visit residents in their homes to assess their needs.
She added those wishing to leave would receive coordinated assistance and transportation to their preferred destinations: “I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine.”
Having spent years living under Russian occupation, some Oleshky residents expressed concern about the evacuation process, fearing “filtration” while traveling through Russian territory, Ukrainian journalist Maria Semenchenko, who grew up in the city, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service on October 29.
The residents, she said, were concerned about potential “coercive screenings and interrogations used by Russia to identify people deemed disloyal,” adding that “some have already experienced torture in the past” and that she knew “at least one person who does not want to leave for precisely this reason.”
Russian forces captured Oleshky early in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Moscow launched in 2022. Later that year, it effectively became a frontline city after Ukraine retook the regional capital, Kherson, less than 10 kilometers away on the other side of the Dnieper River.
Once home to around 24,000 people, Oleshky’s population has declined dramatically due to displacement and deaths caused by Russia’s war. The destruction of the nearby Kakhovka Dam in June 2023 further compounded the devastation, with an estimated 90 percent of the city’s territory flooded.
Fewer than 2,000 people remained in the city by the fall, including around 50 children, according to Melania Trump’s office. Most are believed to be elderly residents who have been unable or unwilling to leave.
Remaining in a largely ruined city that is ringed by land mines, Oleshky residents for months were trapped in a war zone that is cut off from the outside world, with little to no food, drinking water, medicine, or electricity.
Kyiv has blamed Russia for the dire situation in the city, accusing Moscow of failing to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians. The Kremlin, in turn, has blamed Ukrainian drone strikes for its inability to do so.
Ukrainian officials and volunteers had previously told RFE/RL that they believed people in Oleshky were essentially being held hostage to Russia’s military goals in the region.
While the city has served as an important staging ground for Russian attacks in southern Ukraine, they said its residents were effectively serving as a human shield for Moscow’s forces.
