25 buses prepared to evacuate 750 people from Oleshky

Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said 25 buses had been prepared to evacuate 750 people from Oleshky, a city in the country’s south under Russian control.

According to AnewZ, Lubinets said in a statement posted on the social media platform X on October 30 that all civilians would be given the opportunity to leave the city, while those who chose to stay could receive humanitarian aid.

Ambulances have also been prepared to transport people with limited mobility. Lubinets said the main priority was to ensure humanitarian aid reached everyone in need. He said special attention was being given to older people, people with disabilities and those unable to care for themselves because of their health or other circumstances.

He also stressed the importance of both sides observing a six-day ceasefire reached with US mediation. Lubinets thanked Ukraine’s Armed Forces and praised cooperation with Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova, as well as the mediation efforts of US first lady Melania Trump.

Oleshky is in Ukraine’s Kherson region in the south, near the front line. Russian forces seized the city in the first days of the war in February 2022. Before the war, it had a population of about 24,000.

According to Ukrainian officials, around 6,000 people, including 200 children, remain in the city. Oleshky has had no electricity, gas or water for three years, and its shops are not operating. Access to and from the city is extremely difficult because of mined roads and drone attacks.

According to a report published by the Izvestia newspaper on Friday, a convoy carrying food and medical supplies began moving toward Oleshky overnight. The newspaper said journalists from various countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, were accompanying the convoy.

Russia and Ukraine said on Thursday that demining around Oleshky had been completed and that an operation to deliver aid to residents and evacuate some of them was ready to begin. Lantratova said two people had died during demining in the city.