Three planes carrying residents evacuated from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky landed at Gomel airport in Belarus on Saturday, the latest stage of a journey taking them back to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The evacuees, who wish to leave for Ukraine, travelled by bus through the Crimean peninsula to the Russian town of Anapa before flying to Belarus. From there they will proceed to Ukraine via a border crossing, a route of more than 1,000 miles for people leaving a town on the front line.
Their departure follows a rare moment of cooperation between the two sides. On Friday, an aid convoy entered Oleshky and residents began boarding buses out, in what Reuters described as the first joint relief operation of its kind in four years and eight months of war. Twenty-five buses offering at least 750 seats, along with ambulances and medical staff, were made available, and food, medicine and other supplies were delivered to those who stayed.
The operation was made possible by a local ceasefire in Oleshky and the wider Kherson region that took effect on Tuesday and is due to run until Sunday. The White House has said the truce was brokered by United States First Lady Melania Trump. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, and his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, appeared side by side to oversee the mission, and demining work preceded the convoy’s arrival.
Oleshky, on the Dnipro river opposite the city of Kherson, was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Once home to about 24,000 people, it has been devastated by bombardment, drone attacks, isolation and flooding after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in 2023. Estimates put the number of people still in the town at around 2,000, mostly elderly residents, with about 50 children among them, while Ukrainian officials have put the figure for the town and surrounding areas higher.
How many people have actually left is not yet confirmed. The report of Saturday’s flights to Belarus rests on Belarusian state news agency Belta, as reported by Reuters, and has not been independently verified. An official figure offered on Friday for the number preparing to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory was withdrawn within hours, with Ukraine’s prime minister saying there were no exact figures yet while the operation continued. Some residents chose to travel to Russia instead of Ukraine, and the Kremlin has cautioned that the local humanitarian ceasefire should not be read as progress towards a broader peace settlement.
For the evacuees, however, the operation is a first break after months of shortages. Lubinets has described the mission as unique and expressed hope that the same model could help other communities stranded by the war.
Sources: Reuters, “Three planes carrying residents evacuated from Oleshky arrive in Belarus, news agency reports” (31 October 2026), https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/three-planes-carrying-residents-evacuated-oleshky-arrive-belarus-news-agency-2026-10-31/ ; PA, “Evacuated Oleshky residents begin long journey out of Russian-occupied region” (31 October 2026), https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/national/26683813.evacuated-oleshky-residents-begin-long-journey-russian-occupied-region/
