Oleshky Evacuees Land in Belarus Amid Localized Kyiv-Moscow Truce

Civilians evacuated from Oleshky in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region have arrived in Belarus under a localized humanitarian truce between Kyiv and Moscow, authorities on both sides announced on Saturday.

Video footage shared on social media by Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, showed displaced residents stepping off an aircraft after landing in the country.

“We will be home soon! For now, we are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus — together with our people and even their beloved pets!” Lubinets wrote alongside the clip.

Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia had earlier announced that the fourth and final evacuation aircraft had touched down in Gomel, in southeastern Belarus.

“Within hours, all Ukrainian citizens evacuated from Oleshky, together with the Ukrainian delegation, will be back on Ukrainian soil,” he added in a post on Telegram.

Russia’s defence ministry also confirmed that people from Oleshky — which remains under Russian occupation — who had requested to leave were flown to Gomel. The ministry shared video footage showing coaches arriving and passengers boarding a plane.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, who helped broker the localized ceasefire, said on Friday that a convoy was ready to evacuate more than 750 people “who voluntarily choose to leave Oleshky.”

“It includes 25 buses, 50 medical professionals, and ambulances,” she said.

The ceasefire is due to last until Sunday evening.

Russian Strikes Disrupt Power Supplies Across Ukraine

The development comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said around 280,000 Ukrainian households were left without power after Russian strikes overnight.

“Russian strikes have created a difficult situation with electricity supplies across our regions,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.

He said approximately 200,000 households in Dnipro and the wider region were without electricity, while a further 80,000 or more in the Kyiv region were also without power.

“Repair crews are working to address the aftermath of the strikes and are doing everything possible to restore electricity supplies,” he said, adding that Russian forces had hit a combined heat and power plant in Kyiv on Friday night, as well as four electrical substations in the eastern Dnipro region, among other targets.

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