At the arrival point, The Insider correspondent Tatyana Popova saw six buses and ambulances used to transport elderly and low-mobility people. Hot meals and medical assistance were organized for the evacuees.
The evacuation became possible after an agreement on a temporary ceasefire in the Oleshky area, concluded with the mediation of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump. The ceasefire has been in effect since October 27 and is due to end on the evening of November 1. Residents were first taken to Anapa in Russia, then flown to Gomel in Belarus, from where they were brought by bus to the Ukrainian border.
The Ukrainian humanitarian mission in Oleshky on October 30 was led by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets. He personally came to the occupied city through Belarus, Russia, and occupied Crimea and, according to the publication, became the first Ukrainian official of such rank to visit Russian-controlled territory during the full-scale war. He took part in the operation together with the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova.
The evacuees said that the past year had been the hardest of the entire occupation. Because of mined roads, the threat of shelling, and drone attacks, many could not leave the city, while food deliveries almost stopped and medical assistance was unavailable. According to them, people cooked food on makeshift stoves, used generators and solar panels, and communications worked intermittently.
One elderly evacuee, who will turn 80 in two weeks, said he had lost 20 kg during the blockade. He said that residents used to receive pasta, salt, and grains, then the distributions were reduced to two cans of condensed milk a month, and later stopped altogether. Other interviewees reported flooding after the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in June 2023, deaths and injuries on mined roads, and violence by Russian soldiers.
According to the evacuees, locals could have their food taken away, be beaten, and be threatened with weapons. One woman said her husband was taken away in 2022 and nothing is known about his fate, while another reported the disappearance of an elderly neighbor: when neighbors came to check the house, the door was open, belongings were still in place, but the owner was not there. According to the correspondent's estimate, about 700–1000 people may have remained in Oleshky after the evacuation, including children, elderly people, and low-mobility people, and some residents refused to leave out of fear of a provocation or because they did not want to leave their homes. One of the evacuees said that if there were a new safe evacuation, more people would want to leave.
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