Road Out of Oleshky Opens as Evacuation Buses Begin Moving Residents

Russian and Ukrainian authorities both confirmed Friday that residents of Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine's Kherson region, are being moved out through a newly cleared road. A convoy of 25 buses was set to carry up to 750 people out by 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT), with ambulances available for residents who have limited mobility.

The evacuation follows a ceasefire that took effect Tuesday across the frontline Kherson region. The pause in fighting allowed the road east of Oleshky to be demined, creating a four-hour window for departure. Several hundred residents have chosen to remain in the town, where gas, electricity and running water are unavailable.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said everyone wishing to leave would be given the chance to do so safely, adding that those who stay will receive humanitarian assistance. Lubinets and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova traveled to Oleshky together on Friday. Lantratova posted a video from the town showing residents dividing into two groups, one bound for Russian-controlled territory and one for Ukraine.

The route out runs through Russian-held ground first. Evacuees travel to Anapa, a southern Russian city, then board a Russian government plane to Gomel in Belarus, and finally cross by road into Ukraine's Chernihiv region. Ukrainian territory lies 5km (3.1 miles) from Oleshky. Russia said Thursday it had staged 'dozens of tonnes' of supplies for residents who stay, including food, medicine, hygiene products and generator fuel.

Some residents declined to leave. One Oleshky resident told the BBC she stayed because authorities 'wouldn't take my animals, so that's it.' Olena, now in Kyiv, said her grandmother and much of her family remain in Oleshky, and that her father agreed to go only after she gave birth. Her grandmother's sister died there last winter after stepping on a landmine under snow; neighbors moved her to hospital in a garden wheelbarrow, Olena said, adding that wheelbarrows are how locals carry the wounded and dead to the hospital and morgue.

The ceasefire is scheduled to remain in place through the end of Sunday, 1 November. It marks the first days of quiet in the Kherson region since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.