“The moment we’ve been waiting for”: residents of occupied Oleshki return to Ukraine

Residents of Oleshki in the Kherson region left the city during a humanitarian operation and crossed the border of Ukraine into the Chernihiv region. To conduct the mission, a regime of silence was established in the Kherson direction, roads were demined, and humanitarian cargo was delivered.

This was reported by Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

Lubinets reported that the implementation of the mission was made possible thanks to agreements with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Yana Lantratova. According to him, the path to this went from negotiations and agreement on a regime of silence to the delivery of aid to Oleshki and the organization of the departure of the civilian population. The regime of silence will last until November 1, 22:59. According to the Ombudsman, this is the longest regime of silence since 2022, which both sides have observed.

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, people who needed evacuation were taken out of the city and the surrounding community. All of them will be provided with the necessary assistance. The President emphasized that government structures, regional and local authorities must work effectively to help people adapt. He also expressed hope that humanitarian access to Oleshki will be maintained.

Zelensky thanked the American side and US First Lady Melania Trump for their mediation. Lubinets noted that the mission took place thanks to the assistance and coordination of the US First Lady. He also thanked Zelensky for his personal support, David Arakhamia for participating in the mission, and the Ukrainian Defense Forces for adhering to the agreements. Zelensky, for his part, thanked Lubinets and his team for implementing the mission, as well as the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which guaranteed security conditions for the operation.

Lubinets spoke about the composition of the evacuees. The oldest person who left is 94 years old, the youngest is a little over a year old. One of the women will celebrate her 49th birthday the next day.

The Ombudsman gave several stories of evacuees. One family survived in a house destroyed by shelling in Oleshki. The father, due to his health, could not go down from the 8th floor on his own, as the stairs were destroyed, and people were cut off from access to food and water. Another story is of a man who was born in Oleshki and survived 16 Russian drone attacks and 4 missile hits on his own house. One of the explosions occurred 1 meter from the wall of the house.

Along with the people, we managed to take out pets: dogs, cats, a parrot, and a raccoon.

Lubinets also expressed hope that this mission will not remain an isolated case. “This experience has the potential to become the basis of a new mechanism for responding to the most complex humanitarian crises – a mechanism that will always focus on people, their safety and the right to life,” the ombudsman said.

Zelensky also thanked journalists, political and public leaders, and everyone who drew the world’s attention to Oleszyk and the humanitarian catastrophe in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine by Russia. “When there is world attention, there is salvation for people,” the president said. According to him, further de-escalation steps and a real approach to peace are also needed.

It was previously reported that evacuated residents of the temporarily occupied Oleshki in the Kherson region, together with a Ukrainian delegation, set off for Anapa, from where they are to reach Belarus, and then Ukraine . They are accompanied by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, who previously spoke with local residents about their needs.

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