Follow-up: Oleshky Evacuees Reach Ukrainian-Held Territory on October 31 as Local Ceasefire Nears Its November 1 Expiry
KYIV — Hundreds of people evacuated from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky arrived back in Ukrainian-controlled territory on October 31, the first large group to return under a rare local humanitarian ceasefire.
Oleshky sits on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, across from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson, and has been occupied since the opening phase of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Before the war the city had about 24,000 residents; Le Monde reported on October 30 that between 1,700 and 2,000 civilians remained trapped there, including about 50 children, many of them elderly, facing severe shortages of food, medicine, water and electricity.
The local ceasefire took effect on October 27, mediated by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and called for by Pope Leo XIV, and is set to expire on November 1. The journey out was circuitous: residents travelled through Russian-held territory to Anapa in southern Russia, flew to Gomel, Belarus, and then travelled by road toward the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media on October 31 that Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky had crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region, thanking those involved in the mediation.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, travelled to Oleshky to personally escort the evacuees, becoming the first high-profile Ukrainian official to openly travel to occupied areas since the start of the war. Not every resident chose to leave: some decided to stay in Oleshky, while another group chose to go to Russia.
Sources: CNN, October 31, 2026, citing President Zelensky's social media post and on-the-ground photographs; Le Monde, October 30, 2026, on the number of residents trapped and the ceasefire background.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 乌克兰赫尔松市第聂伯河清晨（资料图），奥列什基位于对岸。Visem 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Dnipro River at Kherson, Ukraine, in the morning (file photo); Oleshky lies across the river. Photo by Visem, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-31Follow-up: Oleshky Evacuees Reach Ukrainian-Held Territory on October 31 as Local Ceasefire Nears Its November 1 ExpiryThis story
