Residents of Oleshki who want to leave the town and return to Ukrainian-controlled territory will be evacuated via a route through Russia and Belarus. According to documents published by Fox News, the first stage involves transporting them to Anapa, and on October 31 they are to continue on a Russian Ministry of Defense military transport plane to Gomel.
The evacuees will be accompanied by a Ukrainian delegation, which is expected to be headed by Ombudsman Dmytro Lyubinets. However, the published excerpt from the document does not specify how the people will be transported from Gomel to Ukraine. It is not specified how many residents have expressed a desire to leave the city via this route.
Evacuation follows humanitarian truce
The plan is part of a broader humanitarian operation in Oleshki, where a local ceasefire has been in effect since October 27. According to the Associated Press, the truce should last until November 1 and ensure access for food, water and medical supplies, as well as the possibility of evacuating civilians.
“I hope to see concrete results from these negotiations in the near future“, said Lyubinets on October 19, when he announced that Moscow and Kiev were coordinating the final details of the evacuation. According to him, the talks have advanced, but complex issues related to the organization and security of the operation remain.
Up to 2,000 people remain in the city
Oleshki is located on the left bank of the Dnieper and has been under Russian control since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Before the war, the city had about 24,000 residents, but according to the Associated Press, up to 2,000 people now remain in it.
The city is without normal electricity, heating and running water. Food and medical supplies have been limited for months, and the roads are mined and dangerous due to fighting and drone attacks. It is these conditions that made the organized evacuation of civilians the main goal of the negotiated ceasefire.
Previous public statements by the Ukrainian side envisaged taking the residents as directly as possible to territory under Kiev's control. The new route through Anapa and Gomel shows a different model of the operation, but the final section from Belarus to Ukraine has not yet been announced.
Sources: meduza.io, apnews.com, foxnews.com