Evacuation under way from Russian-occupied Oleshky as Kherson ceasefire holds

The evacuation of Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, is under way, Russian and Ukrainian authorities have confirmed.

Residents who wish to leave have a four-hour window to do so. A convoy of 25 buses can carry up to 750 people out of the town until 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT), along with ambulances for people with limited mobility. The road out of Oleshky was demined during a ceasefire that has been in force across the entire frontline region of Kherson since Tuesday.

The truce was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump and is due to last until the end of Sunday 1 November. The BBC reports it has provided the first few days of peace in the Kherson region since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A long route to Ukrainian territory

Ukrainian-held territory lies just 5km (3.1 miles) from Oleshky, but evacuees will not travel there directly. They must first cross into Russian-occupied territory and then reach the southern Russian city of Anapa. From there they will board a Russian government plane to Gomel in Belarus, and then drive across the border into Ukraine's Chernihiv region.

Others are expected to choose to stay in Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said everyone who wished to leave would be given the opportunity to do so safely, and that those who decided to remain would receive all necessary humanitarian assistance.

Hundreds choose to remain

It is understood that several hundred people have decided to stay in Oleshky, despite the widespread devastation and the lack of gas, electricity and running water.

Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, travelled to Oleshky together on Friday. In a video posted on social media, Lantratova said people were given the chance to form two groups, depending on whether they wanted to be taken to Russian-controlled territory or to Ukraine. In videos posted by his own account, Lubinets can be seen meeting tearful locals. "The problem is that a lot of people are staying," he is heard saying. "I was told that it was their own choice, we will do everything possible for the humanitarian aid to arrive."

Russia said on Thursday it had prepared "dozens of tonnes" of aid for residents who do not wish to leave, including food, medicine, hygiene products and fuel for generators.

One Oleshky resident told the BBC she had decided against leaving because "they wouldn't take my animals, so that's it."

Olena, who now lives in Kyiv, said her grandmother and wider family in Oleshky were also staying behind. "The older generation does not want to leave," she said. "I've barely managed to persuade my father - and only because I've just had a baby, who he would never see otherwise."

She said her grandmother's sister died in Oleshky last winter after stepping on a landmine and losing her legs, and was taken to hospital in a garden wheelbarrow. "That's how locals transport all wounded and dead people in Oleshky to the hospital and the hospital's morgue: in garden wheelbarrows," Olena said.

Source: BBC World.