Evacuees reunite with family at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border after fleeing Oleshky

CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory Saturday in a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago.

Evacuees wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border where they were reunited with family members. Volunteers with hand-drawn welcome signs handed out coffee to the weary travelers, who had traveled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus. Residents of nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and flashlights to greet the convoy.

Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who helped her flee.

“We love them, we love them,” she said through tears. “We know that they are protecting us. And a deep bow to them, and a deep bow to their parents, for having such children. I am proud, I am simply proud.”

The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region began early Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening. The White House has said U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helped to broker the localized deal, and Pope Leo XIV also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.

Expressions of fear and hope

Relatives and volunteers with the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Central Kitchen welcomed the evacuees as they arrived at the border, ready to provide aid and food, including for their pets.

Holding a cigarette between shaking fingers, 48-year-old Ivan Yevhenovych described his last few months in Oleshky.

“It was very difficult. There were a lot of drones; it was hard to move around the streets,” he said. “Since spring, there hasn’t really been any staple food left. People had a little bit of their own reserves. We are thrifty people.”

He said land mines or drone strikes were killing residents every day.

An estimated 2,000 people were still living in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice of being evacuated to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.

“Many people stayed behind and didn’t want to leave,” Yevhenovych said. “Some for their houses, some for their animals.”

Ukrainian authorities, seeking to protect those who remained and safeguard future humanitarian missions, have not said how many residents evacuated Oleshky and have restricted details of their route. Melania Trump posted on social media Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Liza Paliy, 19, waited at the border for her father, whom she last saw more than 2½ years ago when she fled the occupied city with her mother and sister.

“We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed,” she said.

Ukraine and Russia hail operation

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, hailed the humanitarian mission as a success.

“This is an extremely important moment. Behind us are difficult negotiations, agreements, preparations, and an enormous amount of work. But most importantly, the people who waited so long to be rescued are finally safe,” he said in an online post.

Lubinets said evacuees ranged in age from just over a year old to 94, and they brought pets, including dogs, cats, a parrot and a raccoon. He said he hoped the Oleshky truce can be replicated elsewhere, saying it “could form the basis of a new mechanism for responding to the most difficult humanitarian crises.”

Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, said both sides have agreed to conduct regular humanitarian missions in and around Oleshky. Lubinets did not mention this development.

“The mission has concluded, but, unfortunately, living conditions in Oleshky remain extremely difficult,” Lantratova said. “We will make every effort to support those residents who have made the decision to stay.”

Ukrainian serviceman Dmytro hugs his wife Larysa after she was evacuated from their Russian-occupied hometown as they cross the Belarus-Ukraine border in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Saturday.

(Efrem Lukatsky / Associated Press)

Some Oleshky evacuees who chose to move to Russian-occupied territory have been taken to a temporary shelter in Simferopol, said Lantratova. The city is in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

“After everything they have endured and a long journey, it is essential for these people to rest, recover, and feel cared for. However, support should not be limited to just a roof over their heads and a hot meal,” she said in a social media post.

Zelensky welcomes sale of Patriots

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday welcomed U.S. approval of Ukraine’s purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors but urged partners to supply the weapons from existing stocks, saying that the newly authorized U.S. sale could take years to arrive.

“Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day. In just these past two weeks of October, there have already been more than 30 Russian strikes on critical parts of our power grid,” Zelensky wrote on X.

The Trump administration said Friday that it had approved a proposed $2.1-billion sale of Patriot air defense interceptors, after Kyiv had accused the Pentagon of delaying deliveries of the vital munition needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles.

The U.S. State Department said 500 Patriot missiles would be purchased for Ukraine with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway through a U.S. program and that no American funds were involved.

A Ukrainian drone attack kills 2 in Russia

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia’s western Bryansk region, local Gov. Yegor Kovalchuk said Saturday. Five other people were wounded, he said.

Local officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Russian media outlets said there was a fire in the region’s capital, Ufa, home to several oil refineries.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday its forces had shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Zelensky said Moscow launched drone attacks on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, leaving 280,000 households in Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power.

The attacks targeted combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and Sumy regions, four electricity substations and a gas distribution facility in the Dnipro region and railway infrastructure in Dnipro and Kharkiv, he said, adding that repair crews were working to restore power.

Zelensky urged partners to impose further sanctions on Russia and provide new support packages to Ukraine.

“The world sees Russia targeting civilian infrastructure every day. Everyone who does not want to see this Russian escalation spread further into Europe must help Ukraine,” he said in an online post.

Gatopoulos and Lukatsky write for the Associated Press. AP journalists Dan Bashakov in the Chernihiv region, Susie Blann in Kyiv and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.