Civilians who left Russian-occupied Oleshky on Friday reached Gomel in Belarus on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Their journey towards Ukrainian-held territory passed through Crimea and southern Russia rather than crossing the nearby front. Buses were reported heading for the Ukrainian border, while completion of the final crossing remained unconfirmed in the available account.
Civilians evacuated from Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, reached Gomel in Belarus on Saturday morning. Ukrainian official David Arakhamia said the fourth and final plane had landed. Belarusian state news agency Belta reported that buses carrying the residents had left the airport for the Ukrainian border. Completion of that last crossing remained unconfirmed.[1]
Residents left Oleshky on Friday in bus convoys during the local humanitarian ceasefire. Their route passed through occupied Crimea to Anapa in southern Russia before the flight to Belarus. Ukrainian military positions lie only 5 km from Oleshky, but the evacuation route avoided a direct crossing of the front. Destroyed bridges and mined banks made the Dnipro river route dangerous.[1], [2]
The departing convoy included 25 buses with capacity for 750 people, alongside ambulances for residents with limited mobility. That capacity was not a confirmed evacuee total. Several hundred people were understood to have stayed despite shortages of food, water and electricity. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said those remaining would receive humanitarian assistance.[1]
