Hundreds of starving and exhausted residents of the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky have returned to Ukrainian-held territory. The major rescue operation began Friday and continued through Saturday, resulting in evacuees being reunited with their families.
The evacuation was carried out under a US-backed local ceasefire, marking the first of its kind and the longest humanitarian pause in a war nearing its fifth year. This rare truce was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump. As part of the operation, four planes transported residents to Gomel, Belarus, with some evacuees traveling through both Russia and Belarus to reach free Ukrainian territory.
Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since 2022, where intense fighting left residents isolated and starving. While hundreds were successfully rescued, some individuals stayed behind. In separate developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that approximately 280,000 Ukrainian households were left without power following Russian strikes overnight.