Zelensky says Oleshky evacuation complete as residents cross into Ukraine from Belarus

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that the humanitarian operation in Russian-occupied Oleshky, in Kherson Oblast, had been completed and that the evacuated residents had crossed into Ukraine through Chernihiv Oblast, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Zelensky said a temporary ceasefire had been arranged on the Kherson front for the mission. During that window, roads to the city were cleared of mines, aid was brought in, and people needing help were taken out of Oleshky and the surrounding community. “All of them will receive the assistance they need,” he wrote on social media. Ukrainska Pravda said a humanitarian hub had been set up in Chernihiv Oblast to receive the arrivals.

He thanked the United States and First Lady Melania Trump for mediating, the defence forces for providing security, and ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and his team for carrying out the work. Zelensky said he hoped humanitarian access to Oleshky would continue and called on government bodies and local authorities to help the evacuees settle.

A long route out

According to Al Jazeera, the residents left Oleshky in bus convoys on Friday under a rare regional truce. Those heading for Ukraine were driven to the Russian city of Anapa and then flown to Gomel in Belarus. Four planes landed there on Saturday, parliament member David Arakhamia said. Belarusian state media reported that rescue workers, medical teams and Red Cross volunteers met the group, which was then taken to Ukrainian territory.

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed how many people left. Melania Trump wrote on Friday that the convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people, while a Ukrainian Red Cross member at the border told Al Jazeera that aid workers expected about 500 arrivals. Al Jazeera’s correspondent at the crossing described about half a dozen buses arriving, evacuees receiving Ukrainian flags and emotional family reunions.

Russia’s ombudswoman, Yana Lantratova, who led the Russian side of the mission, said buses also carried residents who wished to live in Russia. Al Jazeera reported that they were taken first to a temporary accommodation centre in Simferopol, in Crimea. Its Moscow correspondent said the Russian military provided safe corridors and de-mined roads near the city. Ukrainian and Russian officials visited Oleshky together on Friday, a rare instance of cooperation. Pope Leo XIV had also urged both leaders to permit aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, Al Jazeera noted.

Fighting elsewhere goes on

The local truce is expected to hold through Sunday, but the two sides kept exchanging strikes elsewhere. The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said a Ukrainian drone hit the settlement of Klimovo and injured five people. Zelensky said overnight Russian attacks struck power plants, railway infrastructure and a gas distribution facility, leaving more than 200,000 households in the Dnipro region and 80,000 in the Kyiv region without electricity.

Zelensky renewed his appeal for more air-defence interceptors. He welcomed US approval of Kyiv’s purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot missiles but warned that delivery could take years. He urged the US, European states and other partners to hand over missiles already in storage to protect Ukraine during the winter of 2026-2027, and to replenish their own stocks later from production that is already contracted and paid for.

What remains unclear

The exact number of people evacuated has not been disclosed by either government, and it is not known whether the truce will be extended beyond Sunday or whether further access to Oleshky will be granted. Zelensky said only that he hopes the access will continue.