Oleshky evacuation completed 'without incident', Russian and Ukrainian ombudsmen say, as convoys leave for Ukraine and Russia

Russia and Ukraine said on Friday 30 October that the joint humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region had been completed “without incident”, with residents who chose to leave travelling out in two convoys, one bound for Ukraine and one for Russia.

Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, said in a video on Telegram that the convoy of 25 buses, nine ambulances and vehicles for bedridden people had reached Armyansk in northern Crimea, where it split in two. “We are concluding our humanitarian mission in Oleshky,” she said. Ukraine’s ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote that those who wished to leave for Ukraine “have been able to do so and are now on their way” and that humanitarian aid had been delivered to those who stayed.

Evacuees heading to Ukraine are travelling to Anapa in southern Russia, then by plane to Gomel in Belarus and by bus into Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, avoiding mined front-line roads, RFE/RL and Al Jazeera reported. The number of evacuees has not been officially confirmed. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi earlier gave a figure of 527, then said it could change.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Russian state TV that Oleshky was an isolated case that should not be extrapolated to the wider peace process, Al Jazeera reported.

Background

The local truce, which the White House says was mediated by US First Lady Melania Trump, began on 27 October and is set to last until 1 November. Russian forces captured Oleshky in 2022; up to 2,000 people were still living there, according to the White House. See also: Oleshky truce holds into a third day.