kyiv/Moscow/Russia and Ukraine completed this Friday in the city of Oleshki an unprecedented joint humanitarian mission in this war that took place in the midst of the largest ceasefire ever declared since the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022 with the Russian invasion.
According to the ombudsmen of Russia and Ukraine, Yana Lantrátova and Dmitro Lubinets, the operation concluded in the afternoon with the evacuation in about 25 buses of the residents of the city – located in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine and occupied by Russia – who had requested to be transferred to safer areas under Russian or Ukrainian control.
According to what the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, who acted as mediator in the negotiations in which the truce was sealed and has closely followed the entire process, said before the evacuation, the device planned to remove more than 750 people from Oleshki.
During the mission, which was preceded by the demining of the entry and exit routes to Oleshki, Lantrátova and Lubinets chatted together with the people of the city and spoke side by side to the media, something that had not happened since the beginning of the war.
Before the evacuation was completed, and also under the supervision of Lantrátova and Lubinets and their respective delegations, humanitarian aid was delivered to the city for those who have chosen to stay.
The Ukrainian delegation left Oleshki along with those evacuated residents who have chosen to settle in territory under the control of the kyiv Government
As explained by the head of the parliamentary group of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, David Arajamia, who is also one of kyiv’s usual negotiators with the Russians, the Ukrainian delegation left Oleshki along with those evacuated residents who have chosen to settle in territory under the control of the kyiv Government.
The group first moved to the city of Anapa, in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar and about 550 kilometers from Oleshki. From Anapa they planned to fly to Belarus and travel by bus to Ukraine from there to avoid crossing the war front.
As Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergei Koretsky said in a morning control session in Parliament, 527 evacuees were scheduled to be transferred to territory under Ukrainian control. Koretski rectified shortly afterwards by stating that the information was “incorrect” and there were no “exact figures” in this regard at that time.
Like the Ukrainian one, the Russian delegation led by Lantrátova left Oleshki in the afternoon towards the city of Amiansk, on the Crimean peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, and then traveled to Moscow from there.
Both ombudsmen highlighted that the ceasefire that has made the humanitarian mission possible was achieved thanks to the mediation of the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, and has been scrupulously respected by both sides in the more than 80 hours that had passed since it came into force on Tuesday.
Although there is no information about the presence these days of official US representatives in Oleshki or its surroundings, Lantrátova and Lubinets have also constantly highlighted Melania Trump’s role in coordinating operations in Oleshki.
The wife of the president of the United States has also reported on the different phases of the mission on her X account.
Sharing messages that the two ombudsmen had published, the wife of the US president has also reported on the different phases of the mission on her X account.
Once the operation in Oleshki was over, the Russian ombudsman proposed making the humanitarian missions coordinated by Melania Trump “a common practice.”
This cessation of hostilities in Oleshki and other areas of the Kherson region is scheduled to last until just before midnight from Sunday to Monday.
At the moment there has been no talk of plans to extend it beyond the planned period, and some military Telegram channels have warned that hostilities could resume with more intensity after the pause.
Oleshki is located in the part of the Kherson region that is on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River and is occupied by Russia. The city is next to the river and less than ten kilometers from the Ukrainian Army positions on the other bank.
Before the truce was declared in the area, Ukraine had for weeks denounced the catastrophic situation in and around Oleshki, where the civilian population had stopped receiving food and medicine supplies and could not leave due to hostilities, constant drone activity and explosive devices that covered the entry and exit routes.
