Evacuation Underway from Russian‑Occupied Oleshky as Humanitarian Corridor Opens

Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova visited Oleshky together on Friday. Lantratova later shared a video on social media from the town, indicating that residents could choose to join one of two groups, depending on whether they wished to be relocated to Russian‑controlled territory or to Ukraine.

Footage from Lubinets’ social media shows him meeting tearful locals in Oleshky. He remarked, “The problem is that a lot of people are staying. I was told that it was their own choice, and we will do everything possible to ensure humanitarian aid reaches them.”

Russia announced on Thursday that it has prepared dozens of tonnes of aid for residents who choose to remain, comprising food, medicine, hygiene products, and fuel for generators.

One Oleshky resident told the BBC that she decided not to leave because “they wouldn’t take my animals, so that’s it.”

Olena, now residing in Kyiv, reported that her grandmother and other family members in Oleshky are also choosing to stay.

She told the BBC, “The older generation does not want to leave. I have barely been able to persuade my father—only because I recently had a baby, whom he would otherwise never see.”

Her grandmother’s sister died in Oleshky during the winter.

Olena recounted, “She lost her legs after stepping on a landmine, covered in snow… People took her to the hospital in a garden wheelbarrow.”

She added, “That is how locals transport all wounded and deceased individuals in Oleshky to the hospital and its morgue: in garden wheelbarrows.”

The ceasefire is scheduled to remain in effect through Sunday, 1 November, marking the first few days of peace in the Kherson region since Russia launched its full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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