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The evacuation of stranded residents from Oleshky, a ravaged Russian-controlled city in southern Ukraine, began Friday under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Officials from Moscow and Kyiv arrived in the Kherson region city to oversee the operation, as the truce announced by U.S. first lady Melania Trump became the longest pause in fighting anywhere on the front line since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
"Evacuation and distribution of humanitarian aid have begun," Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said on Telegram.
Russia’s human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova posted a video of groups of people waiting to board buses.
Some would be taken to Russia and others to Kyiv-controlled parts of Ukraine, she said.
Locals in Oleshky, captured by Russia in 2022, had faced food, water and medicine shortages for months, with some forced to hunt and eat pigeons, former residents told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The city’s population has fallen from 24,000 before the war to about 2,000.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets posted videos of himself speaking with residents, several of whom thanked him in tears. Residents were seen waiting outside their buildings with bags of belongings.
Officials from both countries said some residents would choose to stay, even if fighting resumes.
Lantratova and Lubinets said Thursday that demining of the routes for the humanitarian mission had been completed and that a convoy was ready to head to the city’s central district hospital.
"All necessary security measures will be in place," the officials said, thanking Melania Trump for her "personal involvement, mediation, and coordination, which made it possible to reach these humanitarian agreements."
Those wishing to leave could do so until 2 p.m., with aid distribution to follow, they said.
The ceasefire, which took effect Tuesday, is due to end at 10:59 p.m. Sunday. Earlier partial ceasefires, including around Orthodox Easter, were marred by accusations of violations.
Attacks continued elsewhere. Some 200,000 households in Dnipro lost power after overnight Russian strikes, and a drone strike on a train station there a day earlier killed at least 14 people. An attack on the northern city of Chernihiv killed two teenage girls.
The Oleshky evacuation marks the first major humanitarian operation under the truce.
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