Four planes carrying evacuated residents of occupied Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region, who wanted to leave for territory controlled by Ukraine, have arrived at Homel Airport in Belarus.
The arrival of the latest plane was reported by Davyd Arakhamia, head of the "Servant of the People" parliamentary faction. According to him, within a few hours all evacuated Ukrainian citizens, together with the Ukrainian delegation, should be on Ukrainian territory.
According to information from the Belarusian state news agency "Belta", a tent camp has been set up at the airport.
Evacuation of Civilians From Occupied Oleshky: What We Know
Since 27 October, a humanitarian ceasefire has been in place in occupied Oleshky and the surrounding area. The agreement was reached with the mediation of US First Lady Melania Trump.
An evacuation of civilians was planned in Oleshky. The Russian side planned to take everyone to territory under its control, but it was claimed that Ukrainians who wanted to travel to free Ukrainian territory would later be able to do so via Belarus. At first there was no official confirmation of this plan — excerpts of the agreement were published by the Fox News channel. Later, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi confirmed that citizens would travel via Belarus.
The ceasefire is due to last until 22:59 on 1 November. No violations of the agreement have been recorded.
On 29 October, a Ukrainian delegation travelled to Oleshky. On the morning of 30 October, it arrived together with humanitarian aid. Russians and representatives of Belarus also arrived. Ukraine asked for the evacuation process to be monitored by the American side.
For the evacuation from Oleshky, 25 buses with 750 seats have been prepared, and ambulances are available for people with limited mobility. Those who wish to stay will be provided with humanitarian support.
Oleshky had been under Russian occupation for years, and this year the enemy worsened the humanitarian situation there so severely that people went hungry. Ukraine dropped food and essential supplies several times by drone. There are reports that the occupiers confiscated them.